Another piece on our Noggie from the same paper from yesterdays piece:
http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/08/28/...g/manchester_united/per_joar_hansen/23150063/
Josh King arrived at Manchester United back in 2008 when he was just a 16 year old boy.
Four years later, and the road to claiming a spot in the first team seems to be endless. The likes of Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov, Shinji Kagawa and Federico Macheda seems to be ahead of him for that senior team spot, which is as hard as it gets for most youngsters.
The Norwegian has been capped once for United, which was a lively game agaisnt Wolverhampton in the Carling Cup back in 2009. Since then he's playing for the reserves aswell as loan spells to Preston, Hull and Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Despite that, he might get his debut for the Norwegian national team sooner rather then later. Egil Olsen revealed yesterday that he got a soft spot for the Norwegian and his extreme qualities in terms of raw power and pace. The only problem seems to be that Olsen doesnt think that playing for the reserves is giving King the matching that he sorely needs.
"Not an easy situation"
The U21-coach, Per Joar Hansen, doesnt hide the fact that he's told King to find himself a new club.
-"The most important thing for Josh right now is to find himself a club where he'll get to play and felt valued. Right now he's in one of the very best clubs in the world, fighting for a spot amongst world class players, so it's obvious that he's fighting an uphill battle for a spot in the first team. I've recommended to him to find himself a club who's willing to take a risk on him, and give him alot of gametime. He got all the qualities needed to become an important player for the Norwegian senior team."
How has King responded to these suggestions?
-"He finds himself in a tough situation at the moment. He needs to be a little selfish and concider where he feels he'll develop the most which means that he's next choice will be extremely important. We'll just have to wait and see if it'll happen in this transfer window or the next one. I'm just here to consult him if he choses to talk to me about the situation."
The U21-coach describes Kings top level as "incredible", and that we hardly see his ability to break through a defense in Norway. As mentioned yesterday, an Austrian U21-national said that hes never seen anyone quite like King.
-"It's not everyday you hear compliments like that. Josh has played in the Championship which is a tough league with big, strong players and he coped very well. He's also proven that he's a cut above the rest at a Reserve-team level. His next challenge will be to prove that he's able to take the step up. He has to think about where that step might be, and I really hope that he'll pick a club with a coach who's able to utilize his main attributes.
Hansen is also negative about King being shipped out on loan yet again.
-"When you're being loaned out, you usually end up being at the end of the line. The coach would rather play a player who've been bought, with a long term contract. That's the danger when going out on loan."
King has been unlucky with injuries so far, despite his young age, which was a main reason why his loan spell in Germany was a total disaster.
-"It's like driving a Ferrari on a Norwegian mountainroad. Some damage is impossible to avoid. I think that should be one of the things Josh has to concider when moving to another club aswell; That he's able to get full attention from the medical staff where they are making sure he's staying fit at all times."
no less because I was hoping he'd do big things for our national side... Good to see that Drillo recognises that his extreme physical talents are worth gambling on, though