Scouting Iceland’s U19 League: Two stars of the future – scout report

Despite being a fairly small nation, Iceland has produced some iconic footballers over the years. The most famous player to descend from Icelandic shores is probably Eidur Gudjohnsen, who made over 180 appearances for Chelsea and went on to win the Champions League with Barcelona. 

Currently, there are some incredibly talented young Icelandic players who are playing their football both in the Besta deild karla and abroad. For example, Hákon Haraldsson recently signed for Ligue 1 side Lille and Orri Óskarsson is making a name for himself at FC København.

In this tactical analysis scout report, we will highlight two potential future stars from Iceland. We will analyse their individual styles of play and assess their key attributes in addition to dissecting the impact both players have upon their teams respective tactics. 

Egill Otti Vilhjálmsson

Egill Otti Vilhjálmsson is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who has been putting in some impressive performances for Fram U19s recently. Whilst he mostly plays as a CAM in the number 10 role of a 4-2-3-1 system, he can also play as a winger, giving him some versatility that could be useful in the future.

Fram U19s typically build up in a 2-4-4 shape, as demonstrated above. Vilhjálmsson usually occupies the central position in the front four. The attacking midfielder will quite often look to drop deeper and drag defenders with him, creating spaces for fellow attacking players to make runs in behind. Alternatively, he will make runs in behind himself, which stretches the oppositions defence and gives his teammates options to play long passes or utilise the space created by his movements to play in other Fram U19 players.