Sunderland’s wait for a transfer breakthrough in January has been long in the tooth but with Leeds United’s Leo Fuhr Hjelde the first to make the move Michael Beale can now start to look at how he will incorporate the Norwegian into his squad.
The 20-year-old arrived at the Stadium of Light penning a four-and a half-year deal and will add to Sunderland’s defensive ranks on the left side, whether that be as a left centre-back option or, as is perhaps more likely from an initial standpoint, at left-back.
Beale has been hit with several injury problems on that side of the field since being appointed as the club’s new head coach with Niall Huggins suffering a serious knee injury in his first game in charge against Coventry City in December. Huggins – also a descendant from Elland Road – is unlikely to return until 2025 while Dennis Cirkin has been plagued with a series of niggling injuries, the latest a hamstring issue set to sideline him until the back end of the season. And with Aji Alese picking up a training ground injury just three games on from his return to the squad from over six months out himself, options have been limited in that area of the field.
It has presented a dilemma for Sunderland’s recruitment team, notably sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, with regards how to approach the January transfer window. Sunderland are blessed with a number of options at left-back when players are fit but, as things stand, none of them are – with both Cirkin and Huggins longer term to varying degrees.
Beale has been forced into converting Trai Hume to left-back on occasion which has meant summer signing Jenson Seelt has had to operate at right-back as opposed to his more natural centre-back role which has condensed the pitch in an attacking sense, with Sunderland’s width restricted. But Sunderland’s options are limited; do they ride it out until Alese and then Cirkin return? Or do they bring in a stopgap and overload the position further when everyone is fit and available?
The answer is probably somewhere in between, despite the arrival of Hjelde.
It’s understood that Sunderland were initially keen to take Hjelde on loan for the second half of the season before those talks developed, which have led to the former Celtic defender joining on a permanent long-term contract.
“It feels great to be here and I’m grateful for the opportunity,” Hjelde said upon his arrival at the club. “I spoke to my dad [former Nottingham Forest defender Jon Olav Hjelde], who showed me the size of the club and the support, and I knew it was a move I simply I couldn’t turn down.
“I’m a ball-playing centre-back, or left-back, with high energy and I like to get up and down the pitch. I’ve been at some big clubs previously and this has helped me develop as a player and as a person, but I’m now ready to push on and take the next step.”
Hjelde, 20, fits the mould of Sunderland’s strategy as far as their philosophy of developing younger players is concerned as well as the preferred playing style Speakman is keen for his head coach to implement. The defender has plenty of experience with significant clubs including Rosenborg, Celtic and Leeds – Sunderland only likely to add to that list.
“We’re really pleased to have acquired Leo on a permanent basis as he’s a player we’ve admired for some time,” sporting director, Speakman, explained.
“He possesses the ability to play three different positions in our backline, depending on the formation, and he joins us having already experienced the EFL Championship. We hope this will allow him to hit the ground running and help our team throughout the next 16 games, whilst also bringing added strength our squad in the long term.”
At 6’2”, Hjelde is another who will add presence for Sunderland, in both penalty areas, but is another who may need time to develop before his potential comes to the fore with just 14 Championship appearances to his name – only one of those coming for Leeds in their 2023-24 season opener against Cardiff City.
Hjelde spent the second half of last season on loan with Rotherham United where he came up against Sunderland in their 2-1 defeat at the New York Stadium in February but has been limited in his exposure to first team football, albeit he does have two Premier League appearances on his CV with Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa.
So what are Sunderland getting from their new signing? We Are Sunderland takes a closer look at the 20-year-old signed from Leeds.
Hjelde’s defensive positioning
While Hjelde describes himself as a ball-playing centre-back, first and foremost in his remit will be to complement Sunderland’s defence – particularly in the absence of Huggins, Cirkin and Alese.
Hjelde has been capped for Norway at under-16s, 17s, 18s and 21s level throughout his career so is already building international recognition whilst having experienced games in the Premier League, Scottish Premiership and England’s Championship.
One thing that is noticeable when analysing some of Hjelde’s key moments in recent seasons is his defensive positioning and how he is able to read the game and threatening situations. For example, in his first start for Leeds as a teenager in their FA Cup third round defeat to West Ham United two years ago, Hjelde was credited as being ‘arguably Leeds’ best player at the London Stadium’ according to the Yorkshire Evening Post report on the tie who suggested ‘he was physical on Sunday and marshalled the nuisance of Michail Antonio well’ and was able to ‘deal with the physicality and trickery of an attacking quartet of Jarrod Bowen, Manuel Lanzini, Vlasic and Antonio.’
The image below shows Hjelde, early in the game, reading a ball down the line towards Michail Antonio where he has able to cut across and deal with the danger. The second example shows a diagonal cross-field pass into the path of Jarrod Bowen but Hjelde, again, has read the situation and is able to close down the angle.
As per Wyscout, Hjelde completed 61 of 86 total actions against West Ham winning nine duels in total, including 75 per cent of loose ball duels. He made the second most interceptions for Leeds with four and the joint-highest number of clearances as well as 11 recoveries. Given this was Hjelde’s first start for Leeds, up against the experience and wherewithal of the likes of Antonio, Bowen and Manuel Lanzini, this was a solid foundation to build on.
Off the back of that display, Hjelde was handed his first taste of Premier League action from the bench, ironically, against West Ham again before also featuring in the defeat at Everton a month later. In the league game with West Ham, Hjelde won six of nine defensive duels, including 100 per cent of his aerial and loose ball duels and made eight interceptions as Leeds recorded an impressive 3-2 victory.
At Goodison Park, Hjelde won eight of 10 defensive duels and made five interceptions as well as eight recoveries, including three in the opposition half. The young defender who cost Leeds, according to some reports, around £1million from Celtic in the summer of 2021, enjoyed an encouraging start under Bielsa before injury struck.
The defender featured for Norway’s under-21s side in their European Championship qualifiers in the summer of 2022 before a series of Carabao Cup appearances for Leeds under Jesse Marsch, including the defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Hjelde put up similar numbers to those games earlier that year against West Ham and again displayed his ability to read situations and cover his team-mates from a defensive standpoint – even if it left an opening in behind. Hjelde returned to Leeds’ under-21s set-up for the remainder of 2022 before a decision was made to allow the defender to head out on loan to Rotherham in the second half of last season.
Hjelde made 13 appearances for Rotherham, including his debut against Blackburn Rovers where, as seen below, he wasn’t afraid to make the decision to leave his man in David Markanday to read the situation and cover the threat of Jack Vale.
Hjelde won eight of 14 defensive duels including 100 per cent in both aerial and loose ball duels and earned a clean sheet in a 4-0 win. Hjelde enjoyed a fine start to life with Rotherham, unbeaten in his first six appearances which included the win over Sunderland where he won eight of 11 defensive duels – Joe Gelhardt’s late header just the second goal he conceded in a Millers shirt. Hjelde played a role in five clean sheets across his 13 appearances at the New York Stadium.
His return to Leeds in the summer saw him handed plenty of minutes in pre-season against the likes of Manchester United, Monaco, Nottingham Forest and Hearts – his defensive covering a key attribute in the 1-0 win at Tynecastle when occupying Lawrence Shankland – a player who has since gone on to score 20 times for the Edinburgh club already this season.
It led to Hjelde being handed a start in Leeds’ opening day draw with Cardiff upon their return to the Championship – but the defender was withdrawn at half-time with Leeds 2-0 down, with WhoScored rating the Norwegian at 5.8 after Cardiff’s second goal from Ike Ugbo came from Hjelde’s side of the field.
However, while Hjelde does exhibit a strong reading of the game, there can sometimes be a tendency to overcommit to regaining possession, as shown above when being caught out by Josh Bowler against Cardiff. In a recent European Championship qualifying game with the Republic of Ireland, Hjelde, starting as the left centre-back can be seen in the image below attempting to cover for full-back Fredrik Oppegard and is caught chasing the ball out of position which allows Sinclair Armstrong space in behind. Norway came from behind to win that game - Hjelde winning his side a penalty in the second half.
Another example for Norway came in the 7-0 win over San Marino in September. A Norway attack threatens to lead to a San Marino counter-attack and while Hjelde reads the threat on the right-hand side well, he overcommits into the challenge and is then left exposed as San Marino come away with it – fortunately it comes to nothing.
Hjlede – the ball-playing centre-back
It’s quite the tag to label yourself with heading into a new club but having spent time with Celtic after Brendan Rodgers’ style of play had been implemented and then gone on to Leeds under Bielsa, the 20-year-old has had plenty of experience as far as dealing with pressure in possession is concerned.
Hjelde’s national team, too, Norway enjoy the adopted philosophy of playing out from the back – something which Sunderland have transitioned to in recent years.
If we go back to Hjelde’s debut for Leeds in the FA Cup tie against West Ham in January 2022, at just 18-years-old the defender enjoyed an 85 per cent pass success rate at the London Stadium, as well as completing three of five long passes. He made the second most passes for Leeds and enjoyed the second most possession behind fellow centre-back Diego Llorente. Hjelde received 44 passes against West Ham which shows how comfortable he was in demanding possession.
A strong example of this is in one of Hjelde’s most recent appearances for Norway under-21s against Republic of Ireland when, under pressure from a number of opposition players looking to press inside Norway’s own penalty area, Hjelde is confident enough to play a pass with his weaker right front across the six-yard box out towards the right-back position without panicking.
One of Hjelde’s finer displays in possession came in September’s win over Latvia for Norway where the defender completed 95 per cent of his passes including 100 per cent of his long-range attempts.
That long-range passing is certainly a weapon in Hjelde’s arsenal and something he is not afraid to use. Below is an example of that range of passing in Norway’s 7-0 win over Latvia where he picks out Manchester City’s Oscar Bobb with an excellent diagonal ball inside the opposition half.
Another example, in a more direct approach through the centre, can be seen with the below effort from a quick free kick against Azerbaijan when finding Jorgen Strand Larsen with a perfect ball over the top of the defence where the striker should do better with his end product.
Hjelde has tended to feature at left-back for Norway, rather than left centre-back, and that has seen him provide and outlet at times from crossing positions – this for Noah Jean Holm against Finland a particularly impressive cross from an advanced position.
Hjelde’s sole assist from that position, outside of winning a penalty against the Republic of Ireland, came in a win over Azerbaijan when dealing with a bouncing ball on the left of the area before a technically sound low cross to the front post for Osame Sahraoui to finish well.
Hjelde scored for Leeds from the penalty spot earlier this season in their League Cup shootout defeat to Salford City back in August but the defender has scored from open play when on loan with Ross County.
The defender can be seen supporting a counter-attack against Kilmarnock, during a loan spell from Celtic, and is in the kind of position Sunderland will be hoping he can occupy going forward to add further balance to Beale’s attack as also seen for Rotherham in the example below against West Bromwich Albion.
As the ball falls to Jason Naismith in the centre of the field, Hjelde has provided an overlap on the left, away from Kilmarnock’s defensive four. He takes possession of the ball well before composing himself in the area to find the bottom corner in a 3-2 win for County.
It’s clear then that Hjelde possess attributes that will appeal to Sunderland, despite the need to develop further to fulfil some of the potential that has seen him picked up by Rosenborg, Celtic and Leeds. Former Hartlepool United boss John Hughes, who was in charge of the Norwegian during his loan spell at Ross County, had likened Hjelde to being the ‘next Virgil van Dijk’ which is quite the vote of confidence.
Hughes also pinpointed that Hjelde would move onto to becoming a centre-back as opposed to left-back which is something that Sunderland will need to iron out.
“One hundred percent, Leo is going to be the next Van Dijk," Hughes was quoted as saying on Hjelde.
"Trust me on that. I would love to see him make his debut for Celtic and become a regular. I would love nothing more to see him running out there.
“Before he came here it was Leeds United who wanted him and he had to sign an extension for his loan to go through.
“He’s going to be a centre-half but can also play left-back. Everything a loan does for a young kid, the physical challenge, playing every week in men’s football and standing up to it.
“There have been disappointments, one or two times he could have done better, but that’s how you learn. He’s a really good kid with a very bright future.”
At the moment Hjelde will likely feature at left-back for Sunderland – a position he is more than familiar with despite transitioning more into a centre-back with Norway in recent international appearances. But he does offer head coach Beale the option of utilising a back three, something he has suggested on a number of occasions in recent weeks when asked about Seelt.
There have been other initial priorities for Sunderland during the January transfer window, but Hjelde’s arrival continues to fit into what Speakman’s philosophy is at the Stadium of Light with the opportunity to grow and develop.
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