According to reports in Denmark, New York City FC is a possible landing spot for Danish central midfielder Jeppe Andersen.
Andersen is the 24 year old captain of Superligaen club Esbjerg fB. Esbjerg are currently languishing at 12th in the table and in contention for relegation in the Danish league. The midfielder will be out of contract this summer and by all accounts is set on a departure from his current club.
Andersen spoke with Danish newspaper BT about the rumored links to NYCFC:
“I do not really know that much about it, but I have heard that New York could be a possibility. Now let’s say that it becomes a realistic option, which is not the case right now, I would be interested in it. Right now there is nothing concrete, so far as I know.”
Andersen went on to add that the possibility of living and playing in New York City would be a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for him.
“I would really like to be in a city other than Esbjerg, and I hope that it will be in January already. It is no secret that by the time summer is over, I will not be in Esbjerg,” said Andersen about a move away from his current club.
It should come as no surprise that Claudio Reyna and NYCFC’s front office are looking to fill the gaps in midfield left following the departures of Frank Lampard, Andoni Iraola, Federico Bravo and Mehdi Ballouchy.
As Andersen himself said there has been no concrete offer from NYCFC, and one only has to look at his injury history to see why the club would be so cautious. Andersen is recovering from a knee operation he underwent last month and has not played since September, he also suffered a different knee ligament injury in 2015 which forced him to miss most of the season. He is expected to be back in action by February of 2017.
BT also reported interest from Brøndby and FC Midtjylland, however the report goes on to say they too are concerned about his injury history. Andersen confirmed that he had heard the rumors himself but said there were no concrete offers from them either.
Should Andersen find himself fit and back to full health this spring, it would not be surprising to see NYCFC attempt to bring in the former U-21 Denmark international seeing as the club has moved to signing younger players in the last year. If that does happen, I’m sure Reyna and Vieira will be hoping he pans out better than their other Scandinavian midfielder.
We’ll have more information as the story develops.
[…] reports claim that NYCFC have eyes for Esbjerg captain Jeppe Andersen. If it happened, the player says, it would be “a […]