Keep an eye on: Kasper Larsen

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OB.dk
  • Name: Kasper Larsen
  • Age: 20 (25-01-1993)
  • Position: Centre Back
  • Club: Odense BK (OB)
  • International Caps:
    • Denmark U21
      • 5 matches / 0 goals
    • Denmark U20
      • 3 matches / 0 goals
    • Denmark U19
      • 13 matches / 1 goal
    • Denmark U18
      • 7 matches / 0 goals
    • Denmark U17
      • 13 matches / 1 goal
    • Denmark U16
      • 6 matches / 1 goal
  • Value: £300.000
Christian Eriksen, Rasmus Falk and Daniel Høegh are all players from Odense's youth department who have managed to break through in the best Danish league and for Christian Eriksen in Europe. Now, the youth department have fostered another talent with a high potential; Kasper Larsen.

Like many other boys in Denmark, Larsen started playing football in a very young age as he started in the local club Sanderum Boldklub at the age of 5. After almost 7 years in Sanderum, the talent decided to try himself out in Odense and joined the U15 squad even though he was only 13-years-old, and it was not an easy start for Larsen:

“I played for the U15-team, along with Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Falk, and had some problems at the start. However, as time went by I developed and became a regular part of the youth team."

Not only did Larsen become a regular part of the U15-team, he managed to become a regular starter for all of the youth teams he played for in Odense, despite being repositioned from the attaching midfield to the centre-back. A position where he achieved his first Danish International youth matches, as well. Since he was 15-years old, the defender have won 47 caps for Denmark's youth teams and is one of the leading players on the current U20 national team. The defender is more than happy with his career for Denmark:

"I have had some great experiences with the youth national teams, and have been a significant part of every one of them, so it is something I appreciate."

After breaking through as a defender, Larsen started training with the Superliga squad in OB from the summer 2011 and was given his debut in March 2012 against Fc Nordsjælland. However, it was only 6 months ago he started training regularly with the team, and only as much as his high school would allow him. Luckily for Larsen, he was a part of Sports Class in high school, which allowed absence when he was away with the team or Denmark. 

For Troels Bech, Manager of Odense Boldklub, there were no doubts when he promoted Larsen to the Superliga squad:

"We have a very hungry player, who is capable of playing on a high level and not just here to learn. He wants to achieve something for himself and his team."

When Kasper Larsen was brought into the squad, the competition for the position as centre-back was hard, why the talent was used both as a left back and left wing as well as the central midfield. The talent believes that the many different positions on the pitch has been good for his development, which is supported by his manager:

"It is fantastic for his development that he in a young age already have won over 30 caps in the Danish Superliga. Some of them might have been on different positions, but it has given him some routine and I think it is important to remember that some of the best stoppers in the world started in other positions. Puyol started as a winger, and learned the offensive play that way," Bech says.

In 2009, the newspaper SportFyn reported that a number of unnamed Spanish clubs were following the talent. Larsen never thought of leaving OB back then, and he ensure his manager and the clubs fans that he will stay in Odense and fight to keep his position as centre-back. Meanwhile, Troels Beck believes that his young talent has his time in front of him:

"He doesn’t have to worry about playing abroad, if his development continues like this, it will come all by itself."


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Keep an eye on: Daniel Høegh

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(Photo: Morten Wamsler)
              Name: Daniel Høegh
               Age: 21 (06-01-1991)
          Position: Center Back
              Club: Odense BK (OB)
International Caps: Denmark U21: 6 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U20: 4 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U19: 9 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U18: 4 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
             Value: £450.000 (transfermarkt.co.uk)

He's 21, vice captain and has played more than fifty matches for the first team of Odense BK. However, Daniel Høegh has not had the easiest way to the top.

In 2004, Høegh joined Odense Bk and started his way up through the youth department. During his time at the clubs U16 team he won the Danish U16 Championship and was less or more a regular part of the team. However, Daniel Høegh is not the typical talent:
'I have never considered myself as the greatest talent; in my youth years, I played on the same team as Christian Eriksen [Ajax Amsterdam] and by the age of fifteen, his future career was already clear. I was not always a part of the first team and had matches for the reserves as well, so it has not always been a bed of roses for me'.

However, the defender continued to work hard and found himself in the squad for a Superliga match against SønderjyskE in 2008. The talent did not get his debut at this time but had a taste of life as a proffesional.

After another selection for the squad - again against SønderjyskE - in 2009, Høegh started playing with the reserves despite his young age. Here, he convinced the coaches that he was ready to take the next step and got his debut in Superligaen against Fc Midtjylland in 2010. the debut was followed up by a contract lasting for 2 years.
'Throug out my youth years I have been hungry for a professional career, which I now have achieved. It is a dream coming true, and I am living it now'.

Daniel Høegh was quick to grab his chance at the Superliga team and has become a profile for the club. Coach Troels Bech has some promising words about his defender:
'He is an attentive player who is fast to learn some experience. He has a good speed and technique as well as a great passing play, and he is strong in the air'.

Despite his young age, Høegh has gathered some routine and is vice captain for Odense. The talent is hoping to become the captain one day as it will be 'a great honour'. The defender might have a chance of this, Bech says:
'It happens more often that he takes responsibility and the command. It is a good sign especially as he is a young stopper and has a position on the pitch where he can communicate'.

Daniel Høegh might have learned the leader role from watching his idol Daniel Agger. The young defender finds some 'equal signs' in his own and Aggers way to professional football. Furthermore, Liverpool is the favorite team of the Odense comet.

The international career has so far given Høegh twenty three matches. He was also given match time in the two meetings against Spain last week. Here, Denmark was sent out of the U21 Euro qualification with an 8-1 loss over two matches. Despite the two lost matches, Høegh finds the positive in the meetings with Spain:
'It was a great experience to get because it was against players who plays on a higher level than us. I believe that I showed some skills and that we were a part of the game'.

Daniel Høegh dreams of one day to have his debut on the Danish senior team:
'I put a great honor in representing Denmark and has always done it when I have dressed the Danish youth-shirt. It will be an honor to play in the Danish senior shirt'.

First step towards becoming a national player, is to become a profile in the Danish Superliga, both Høegh and Bech says. The next opportunity for this is on Sunday when Odense meets Fc Midtjylland in Herning.

   




 
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Keep an eye on: Sune Kiilerich

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Keep an eye on: Sune Kiilerich

               Age: 21 (18-12-1990)
          Position: Right Fullback
              Club: Silkeborg IF,
                    Danish Superliga
             Debut: 31-07-11 
                    against SønderjyskE
International caps: Denmark U19: 1 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s)
                    Denmark U18: 2 match(es)
                                 0 goal(s) 
             Value: £100.000 (transfermarkt.co.uk)


He describes himself as a “tall player, who is great in the air”, but also as a “strong technical player” due to his past as an attacker. This week’s profile is Sune Kiilerich.

Kiilerich started playing football aged five and spent most of his youth in Ikast FS, before joining the FC Midtjylland Academy aged fourteen, in 2004. Here he quickly became an essential part of the youth department, with whom he played against clubs as Monaco and Chelsea.
 
In 2007, the defenders hard work for the academy resulted in a contract with FCM. 2009, turned out to be a fantastic year for the talented Dane, as he was part of the team winning the Danish U19 Championship as well as selected for the Danish U19 squad playing in the NI Milk Cup. After some great performances for FC Midtjylland in the Italian cup Viareggio Cup, Parma was reported interested in the player. However, it was Sampdoria who invited him on a trial, before buying him in 2010. Sune Kiilerich described his transfer as a “dream coming through” but was fast aware of the difference between the two cultures:
 
“In Denmark you are used to be in safe surroundings and you can always talk with the Director or the coach. You couldn’t do the same down there [Italy]. In Sampdoria, they had one hired as a connection link between the players and the coach.”

Kiilerich started as planned on the Sampdoria youth team, in the Primavera Division, where he was to play in a year before joining the first team squad. The fullback’s Italian career started with success as he managed to take over the position as right fullback, sending the captain of the team on the bench. Despite the success, the board of Sampdoria decided that Kiilerich needed to go on a loan in another club, in order to get some first team experience. However, it turned out that the defender had played his last match for the club:
 
“I just think I was unlucky. I played well for the Primavera team and my agent talked with the directors who said there were ninety-five percent chances for me to be playing in the first team squad the season after.”

Unfortunately for the defender, Sampdoria had a remarkable season, and the board was hired by Juventus:
“It was bad for me, because it was those directors who brought me to the club, and when the new ones came I was sidetracked. They wanted me to go on a loan with a Serie B club, but after talking with some team mates I refused.” 

After a month with the new directors, Sune Kiilerich and the club agreed with Viborg, to take him on a six months loan.

Kiilerich experienced some personal success with Viborg, and decided to go back to Denmark, where joined the Danish Superliga club Silkeborg IF after his contract ran out. Manager Troels Bech is happy to have brought the player to the club:
“He is gifted with an unusual physic, in the form of his size, range and speed and he have had the possibility of making some experience in a young age, through his stay in Italy.”

At the moment, the defender is not a regular part of the starting eleven and he acknowledges that “there is a hard competition about my position on the team” and that he “must keep fighting, and hope that I can play myself in to the starting eleven”.
Kiilerich is hoping one day to play in English football, and if possible for Liverpool. Troels Bech believes that player has what it takes to play in England, but stresses that the player needs to breakthrough in Silkeborg before he will start guessing on where Kiilerich will play in the future. 
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