FC Nordsjælland was by far the busiest Superliga club during the transfer period, bringing in five players and moving eleven out. Among those leaving were Enoch Adu (to Club Brugge), Michael Parkhurst (Augsburg) and Mikkel Beckmann (APOEL Nicosia), while there were several interesting looking players such as Francisco Calvo (Municipal Pérez Zeledón), Uffe Bech (Lyngby) and Ricardo Bueno (on loan from Atletico Goianiense) among the new recruits.
The next busiest teams were Esbjerg, Randers and SønderjyskE, all of which concluded six transfers each.
Nevertheless, Jesper Helmin, the editor of football website Bold.dk, contended that this year’s winter transfer period was rather quiet compared to previous years.
“At the beginning of January, there were some deals that were completed, but then again there was the usual quiet ten to 14 day period in mid-January when not much happens,” Helmin told The Copenhagen Post. “Usually, there is a lot of action in the last three or four days of January, but that was clearly not the case this year.”
There were a few decent deals for Danish clubs, however. FC Copenhagen signed former Denmark international Daniel Jensen on a free transfer, OB nicked former Ajax talent Darko Bodul, and Randers signed Lorenzo Davids, the cousin of former Netherlands star Edgar Davids.
And there were several interesting moves abroad, including the transfer of Aarhus GF’s Arón Johannsson, the Superliga’s current joint top scorer, to AZ in the Netherlands, and Andreas Laudrup’s loan deal with St Etienne in France.
But the biggest surprise of the transfer period would have to be the deals that didn’t happen. Nicklas Helenius, Mads Albæk, Casper Sloth, Christian Bolaños, Andreas Cornelius and Jores Okore were all considered hot property when the transfer period opened up for business, but all stayed put.
Okore in particular was expected to move to a big club. Top clubs like Juventus, Chelsea, Manchester United and AC Milan were supposedly gagging for Okore after his stellar Champions League performances, and pundits had predicted that he had played his last game for FC Nordsjælland. But, alas, despite a serious bid from Fulham, he remains a Tiger.
“I’m not sad, but I’d really hoped to move on now and prove myself at a higher level,” Okore told BT newspaper. “But it’s tough to settle in a team half way through the season, and clubs often make emergency buys in January. I was prepared to stay another six months anyway, and that’s what will happen.”
And Helmin argued that it was no coincidence that some of the best assets on display in the Superliga ended up staying put.
“I think that clubs in the countries that usually buy Danish players, like in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, are strapped for cash, which means they are less likely to shell out massive fees for quality players like Okore,” Helmin told The Copenhagen Post. “Furthermore, Danish teams had a mediocre year in Europe, which also didn’t help matters.”
There wasn’t much more action for the Danes on the international scene. Niki Zimling moved from Club Brugge to Bundesliga outfit Mainz 05; Matti Lund Nielsen stayed in Italy, moving from Pescara in Serie A down to Verona in Serie B; and Tobias Mikkelsen left German team Greuther Fürth for Rosenborg in Norway to join up with Nicki Bille Nielsen who left Villarreal in Spain.
