The whole of England stood still in the 36th minute into the World Cup quarter-final against Norway. A Norwegian bright bang did what he wanted with the English defense and finished by making goalkeeper Jordan Pickford look like a little prankster. Andreas Schjelderup had shown himself, and received the tribute with the utmost naturalness. Pipsimple, folks. Tottenham are now chasing the 22-year-old’s signature, on Thursday the Norwegian World Cup hero followed up by showing off to new Benfica coach, Marco Silva.
Before Benfica’s Europa League qualifier against Hearts, former Fulham coach Marco Silva answered questions about Schjelderup’s future. Here there was little doubt about who he wants as one of the building blocks of his Benfica attack.
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-I understand why there is so much talk about Andreas. Firstly, because he has quality. Benfica made public the possible extension and offer he has. From the moment it became public, it’s understandable that there are conversations,” Silva begins.
Then comes the confirmation of what role he wants to assign to the 22-year-old.
-Because of the quality he has, because of the last five months of last season and because of the excellent World Cup he had… I think that by praising him like that, I have already answered whether he is fundamental to me or not. For the way we want to play, wingers are fundamental. He has very specific characteristics to face low blocks and is able to do something different against teams that defend well. We are going to face a lot of them in the Portuguese league. Andreas is a player I believe in a lot, and he is different, says the Benfica coach.
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Andreas Schjelderup let his legs answer in the third qualifying round of the Europa League. Just back from the World Cup and vacation, Silva put in his Norwegian World Cup hero in the 64th minute against Scottish Hearts. During the next half hour, Schjelderup was behind the assist and penalty scoring in overtime.
No wonder Berge’s former coach is holding on to his Norwegian super winger.
