At just 15 years old, Kristoffer Klaesson signed his first professional contract with the famous Norwegian club Vålerenga. Fast forward more than five years, the now-20-year-old could well be on his way to Elland Road with Leeds United.
According to reports in Norway, the Peacocks have made official contact with Vålerenga and are preparing an offer for the goalkeeper that Leeds’ Director of Football Victor Orta has tracked for some time.
Klaesson has been Vålerenga’s first-choice goalkeeper since the age of 18 and this season is no different as the Norwegian giants sit in third place in the table as things stand. The young keeper has also made 38 appearances for Norway since U15s level, although he is yet to make his first-team debut with the international team.
Klaesson has been extremely impressive in the Eliteserien for Vålerenga since becoming the club’s first-choice keeper, particularly under head coach Dag-Eilev Fagermo.
This article will be a tactical analysis of Klaesson in the form of a scout report. It will be an analysis of the goalkeeper’s strengths and weaknesses as well as how he could potentially fit into the tactics of Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds.
Disclaimer: the graphs were completed for this scout report prior to Vålerenga’s defeat to Haugesund on July 18 and so the stats may have changed slightly since.
Player profile, weaknesses, and an interview with Gjermund Østby
The left-footed Norwegian stands at 6ft 2 (189cm) and weighs 167lbs (76kg). Klaesson has quite a lean frame for a goalkeeper although he is certainly not weak. In 1v1 situations, he uses his body really well to spread and make the goal look big against opposition players, which has contributed to his 68.75 save percentage. This is something that will be analysed in more detail later.
For this article, Total Football Analysis contacted Vålerenga’s goalkeeping coach Gjermund Østby for an interview on Klaesson, a player that the coach has worked very closely with since he made the step-up to the first-team.
The Norwegian coach gave some very insightful information about Klaesson’s development, strengths, weaknesses, and potential.
When asked what Klaesson’s three great strengths are, Østby replied, “His biggest strengths are shot [stopping], his reach, and 1 against 1.” These will also be analysed in further detail later in this piece when we analyse his saving technique in 1v1 situations.
Østby then commented on the goalkeeper’s mentality, an area of football that cannot be seen from the perspective of a scout or an analyst. The coach said, “I am very impressed [with] his mentality.
“To play for a club like Vålerenga in Norway means a lot of pressure. He had some bad games last year, but he came back in a brilliant way in the last part of the season.
“He has a very good attitude in terms of being a professional player and he is very willing to learn and improve.
“[Klaesson] has improved a lot the last 12 months in terms of the tactical part of the game, on crosses and he is more stable in his performances.”
Østby was asked by Total Football Analysis about the goalkeeper’s weaknesses regarding his passing range too. So far this season, Klaesson has a passing accuracy of just 76.86 percent, the fifth-lowest in the Eliteserien out of all goalkeepers who have played more than five games so far. The 20-year-old is averaging 18.91 passes per 90 too.
If the player does move to Leeds United, his passing needs serious improvement. As can be seen from the graph above, even with the small volume of passes he makes per 90, Klaesson is completing just two-thirds of these.
What is worse is his long ball completion rate, another very important tool for a goalkeeper.
