Name: Casper Tengstedt
Age: 22
Position: Striker
Nationality: Danish
Club: Rosenborg
In every new season of football someone, somewhere finds that thing that is almost as elusive as a golden ticket to Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory. They find that player who turns up with no real expectation and after 15 minutes of the first training session the players, coaches and manager are rubbing their hands with glee because they've found their very own golden ticket. Casper Tengstedt is that man for Rosenborg this season. He arrived in Norway from Horsens in Denmark for a reported fee of around half a million euros and there was very little in his history to suggest what would come next.
13 games in Eliteserien with 15 goals and 6 assists. Every defender in the league is well and truly on notice when they see Rosenborg coming round on the fixture list. It took just 14 minutes for him to announce to the Troillongan crowd that he had arrived. Then 6 days later he pops in a hat-trick and the goal contributions just roll on and on.
Wild as it seems sometimes all it takes is the right manager, right surroundings and a willingness to embrace something new and on the face of things Tengstedt has taken the chance with both feet. Kjetil Rekdal must be praying that come the start of next season he gets the chance to have Casper available to spearhead a push for the Norwegian title that they last won 6 years ago, and to help them navigate the European Conference League.
The thing that really shines through when you watch the footage of Casper is when the shot is there to be taken then he more often than not hits the target. His conversion rate is currently sat at the 30% marker which is really impressive at any level and his trademark move is one we see many strikers use these days, where he drifts in from wider areas onto his preferred foot to open up a bigger target and at that point he generally seems to favour a placed shot low into the bottom corners of the net. Very similar finishing style to Dimitar Berbatov who was a big believer that accuracy was far more important that power.
Casper also has a good variety of other bits in his locker when he finds his way into the box. If the quick placed shot isn't on because the goalkeeper has got out and closed the angle, he is happy to go round, or in some cases just dink it over the goalkeeper to add more goals to his tally.
In a game versus Sandefjord where he popped in a hat-trick he demonstrated 3 wonderful close-range finishes. The first where he finds a yard of space on the 6-yard line and directs a nice low cross in with a first-time left foot shot. His second is a wonderful run off one central defender and in behind the other, 2 touches... the second of which is maybe a little light, leaving him with 2 choices. He can either try to aim for the far post and try to execute a shot that would need a lot of curl because of the position the goalkeeper takes, or he does what he does and waits for the goalie to set himself low and just dink it over him. It showed a real confidence, speed of thought and fantastic execution. The third is another great run to beat the offside trap in behind the same defender but this time the goalie is a bit further off his line and the angles for the early shot look tight, he takes shape to shoot for the bottom righthand corner and the goalkeeper sets, left shoulder drops and the poor goalkeeper can do nothing but watch as Casper goes round and taps home to seal a very well taken hat-trick.
Goals are the biggest part of what Casper has brought to Rosenborg but his assists are almost as impressive and again add to the picture of him showing great awareness and execution in the penalty area. Most of his assists stem from good runs into the box from wider areas and picking out players who have run in from the opposite sides with low passes across the front of goal to leave his them with the easiest of finishes. In most of the situations he wouldn't have been judged harshly for taking a shot himself but if you can turn a 50% chance into a 95% chance with a simple short pass then you'd be mad not to take it and again it speaks volumes for his decision making when it matters.
His overall attributes are well rounded with his movement and finishing the standout elements to his game. There could be improvements in his link up play when he has his back to goal and in a few other areas, but none of which I'd be overly critical of especially given that this first real spell as the main striker for anyone since he made it out of the youth teams. The positives of what he offers far outweigh the negatives and as long as he can maintain that composure in the box then he'll do alright.
The future unsurprisingly looks like it could be a move out of Norway as any team who looks at the player metrics and finds the sort of numbers that Casper is posting will be asking their scouts to have a look. Rumours suggest Anderlecht are already looking at him as an option for the winter transfer window and the fee being talked about is 10x what Rosenborg paid less than 6 months ago. 5 million Euros and some add-ons will be the starting point for this young Danish striker. He has also been quoted as saying his dream is to play for Liverpool and while I don't see them being his next step, I do think that with some good choices he could be playing in a top league soon enough.
Norwegian football ends in the next few weeks so the stories surrounding Tengstedt will probably start rolling out pretty quickly and I look forward to seeing what comes next whether that be taking the time to get a full season with Rosenborg under his belt or elsewhere.
That's Casper Tengstedt. I hope you enjoyed reading if you got this far and again my thanks for all the support.
R
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