Håvard Nordtveit is currently taking the Bundesliga by storm with his latest loan club, Nürnberg, and his superb performances in Germany are not going unnoticed by manager Arsène Wenger.
The Frenchman is known to make regular checks on all his loan stars and Nordtveit is no exception. The centre back is currently training with Norway’s Under 21’s but in his last fixture – against Stuttgart – Wenger requested a DVD of the game to study the Norwegian. Håvard’s task to impress was made more difficult by the fact he was deployed in an unfamiliar defensive midfield position, operating in a 4-1-4-1-system. But clearly this challenge didn’t faze the youngster who received much praise from the German media.
“Arsenal want to put me under pressure to see what I can do. They are always searching for the highest level for me.”
“I played the whole game and got good praise from the critics, even though I had to run a great deal more than I am used to as a centre back. We did very well to gain a point.”
After watching the match, Wenger called the 19-year-old to offer his congratulations on the performance. Håvard was unwilling to reveal the details of the conversation but the delight that the Frenchman expressed to the defensive protégé was apparent.
“It was a very nice message to receive from Arsenal after the match against Stuttgart. It’s good to know that Arsène Wenger has seen the game on DVD. That’s not the worst message to get!”
Nordtveit will complete the remainder of the Bundesliga season with Nürnberg before returning to Arsenal in the summer.
Article By – J.Sanderson
what’s his best position?
Doggystyle.
centre back but i watched that game it was like a week ago or 2 weeks ago he played defensive mid. he was really relly good trust me i never knew nordtveit was so good at passing. dere was one point he made a gilberto to walcott-esque(2 seasons ago against sunderland or stoke n walcott scored) pass.
Dont tell me Wenger is going to convert him into a midfielder now. I suppose we do need another holding midfielder he could be like alex song. Playing centre back and defensibve midfield
Excellent. I like Arsene Wenger’s idea of having players who can play in multiple positions. It offers so much more depth than is apparent at first glance. I have high hopes for Nordveidt and I think he will be back next year with the Arsenal first team. Thats the reason we might not have bought any further CB this year.
being from Norway, it is exciting to see such a talented defender also being a great passer. After all reading the game and passing the ball is the strength of somebody like Vermalen. Seems with the new system the central defenders come more up in attack, while midfielders as Song in such case draw back. Got no clue if this is the same throughout the club
great to see regular postings from youngguns again. i’m a big fan of the site.
Nordtveit is a center back and allways will be. But as a young player he will have to fill in where ever he is needed, right back or defencive midfielder. It will give him experience to one day be the backbone of the team – as a center back.
About his good passing. This is one of his best skills. He is a playing CB, not a bulldozer. That’s why he needed to go out on loan, to learn how to defend. Playing midfield is not a bad idea in that case. It’s how Roy Hodgson played Brede Hangeland a couple of years ago, when they were at Norwegian outfit Viking FK (which is my hometown club). Let’s hope Nordtveit can copy Hangeland’s development!
great to see regular postings from youngguns again. i’m a big fan of the site.
aaa said this on September 10, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Ditto. Keep ’em coming JS.
his passing is incredible indeed. Ive watched most of is games for Lillestrøm and he has showned himself from a very good side. Started as a RB, continiued as the main CB. reading of the game, tackling, passing, its all superb. He could be a tad pacyer, but hardly a weakness.
He played as a midfieleder last game, and now we have to wait and see if he will continiue in that role.
The point of arsenal’s system is that every player is able to attack. Song goes forward a bit as well, then denilson can cover. When gallas or vermaelen attacks, song covers etc.
Djourou is an excellent attacker as well from CB, and toure used to bomb forward well. Sounds like nordveidt is the same sort of talented attacking CB that Wenger loves.
JS where is Luke Ayling? Also With Johan Djorou injured Will Wenger recall Nordvteit? What about bartley or ayling will be promoted to the first team.
Also what happened to Mate toth? Did he come for another trial?
Also i got to say Mark miligan is one hell of a player arsenal should have signed him
Sounds like an impressive performance. He could be the new Song!!!
Will have to check out his next game..
Ayling is still with us mate, he’s gone nowhere.
He’s gone on a season long loan to Nurnberg so it means there was probably a fee involved so I don’t think there will be a recall option.
Mate Toth was on trial, but obviously not signed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/10/arsene-wenger-arsenal-uefa-fifa is a very good article detailing Wenger’s thoughts on youth signings, if anyone wants to read.
Good spot Samuel. Arsene was very passionate on Arsenal TV, and I agree with him 100%
Wenger is right as always. Look at arsenal youth team. Our English players are technically very good now.
Problem is smaller clubs want more compensation even wenger agreed with that
I don’t know anything about it but even if there’s fee involved I could believe that we have a recall option which would see us repay the initial fee. Don’t know anything about this though but if Senderos, Vermalean or Gallas get injured then I want Nordveit back with the next plane.
Is luke Ayling injured than? I heard he his being rested and i dont know why if its trure
But think about Gallas, vermaelen, silvestre, senderos are all injury prone.
We could end up playin Kyle Bartley or Luke Ayling in the first team. There must be a recall option for Nordvteit
The problem Wenger doesn’t seem to hit upon is while top talent should train with top teams, top talent should only be purchased in a legal, ethical and satisifactory manner. All of our players, by and large, have been done so in a way that hasn’t broken contracts or been involved in ‘illegal tap-ups’ such as financial doping of families.
UEFA need to spend time and energy into getting the regulation right regarding u18 transfers. So no rights to be sold to agents (which is particularly deathly in South American and African football), no ‘illegal tap-ups’ or illegal offers made to parents, u18 transfers kept to where work permits are legal (this would be particularly helpful with young African footballers led astray) and a proper way to figure out compensation (most probably continental tribunals). Also to figure out what happens when clubs no longer want a player and he is available to others needs to be looked into, as I think we can all see back-handers or bungs encouraging lesser teams to ‘drop’ talented youngsters only for them to sign for Chelsea or Man City etc.
I’m sure Wenger would be in favour of all of these measures. The ethics of u18 transfers and the safety, well-being and stability in u18 footballers is incredibly important and if Europe can lead change in how it is handled properly then the game will improve ten-fold. Will they do it in a careful and considered manner though? Will they fuck…
samuel, you always seem to talk alot of sense fella. You thought about blogging articles for young guns?
Jimi: I don’t have the time, patience or whatever to run a successful blog. Plus there are too many Arsenal blogs for me to do something original and worth reading. And on the young guns front, J just announced the Blog Idol winner – Nick is a very talented writer I can’t wait to read – no need for me to tag along for the ride. I’m just here to help make these comment sections a valuable place for gooners to talk without those with a mental retardation calling for Wenger’s head at any sign of a slip up (and correct use of the English language helps).
Plus, I was drunk in a field the week when Blog Idol was announced and forgot to have a go after I’d recovered!
nordtveit learning football arsenal’s way. even you play cb, on occasion you’ll get involve in attack. toure and gallas both bery good at going forward. djourou can do that as well. vermaelen technically excellent for a cb. it seems nordtveit has the same quality, it just need to be polish a bit.
Still the best site for Arsenal’s future players. Please keep up the great work!
Thanks very much, Lanesra!
i dont understand why we keep sending this kind of youngsters onloan while at arsenal they can play in the carling cup reach the finals and win and also play in the F.A. cup and in the process they get to land about the english game. wat do you think guys?
big gun: Playing 30 or 40 games against the likes of Ribery, Robben, Dzeko and co >>> playing West Brom, Wigan and Spurs in professional games and then spending the rest of your time in the reserves.
He was back in the more familiar centre back position tonight as Nürnberg got their first win of the season against Borussia Mönchengladbach, he played very well the entire game. I’ve seen him play as a centre-back, right-back, def. mid and he masters it all very well. Got high hopes of him becomming a regular in our defence in the future. :)
According to Nürnberger Zeitung, Nürnberg payed 200 000 Euro to Arsenal for the loan move.
TomGooner, he did not play as centre back yesterday, def. midfield again. However, he was really great til the last minutes, where he made some horrible mistakes. (he was not the only one though)