Fredrik Aursnes: Feyenoord’s Norwegian midfielder linked with a move to SL Benfica – scout report

After starting his career in his native Norway, Fredrik Aursnes finally made the jump to a bigger league last summer, joining Eredivisie giants Feyenoord from Norwegian side Molde. A spectacular first season with Feyenoord followed, with Aursnes playing a huge part in helping the Rotterdam-based side finish third in the Eredivisie behind PSV Eindhoven and champions Ajax, as well as reaching the UEFA Europa Conference League final before losing out to Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma.

This tactical analysis and scout report piece will take a more in-depth look into the strengths of Fredrik Aursnes, which will give a better idea as to why SL Benfica and new manager Roger Schmidt are debating spending around €15 million on the Feyenoord midfielder. 

Player profile 

Under former AZ Alkmaar boss Arne Slot, Feyenoord last season played a typical Dutch footballing system, a 4-3-3. Aursnes was tasked with being at the base of that midfield three, protecting the back four, while also dictating play from these deeper-lying positions. 

As Aursnes’s heat map from last season demonstrates, he was the main man that kept Feyenoord’s team together. Aursnes only missed one game in the previous campaign (due to a yellow card suspension), with Feyenoord subsequently losing that match. Aursnes controlled the game in these midfield areas for Feyenoord last campaign, proving his worth to the side, as well as the manager. Losing Aursnes this summer would be a big blow for Slot and a huge hole for him to fill in his midfield as well. 

Dictating play from deep 

Without a doubt, Fredrik Aursnes’s biggest strength is his distribution on the ball. Aursnes attempted a staggering 65.75 passes per 90 last season for Feyenoord, with an accuracy of 85.6%. While some may think this number could be slightly inflated because of the amount of backward passes he played, they would be mistaken. The Norwegian midfielder played 22.12 forward passes per 90 with an accuracy of 73.8%. He also played 11.71 passes to the final third per 90 with a success rate of 77.8%, a statistic which shows Aursnes’s ability to dictate play as well as create chances from these deeper lying midfield positions. His long passing ability also shone last season, with 6.27 long passes played per 90 with 53.7% accuracy.