I know I can speak for many union fans when I say that we’ve all been waiting on pins and needles for any type of rumors related to striker signings. For most of the current offseason, it has been fairly quiet with the only signing of note being Julian Carranza on loan from Inter Miami. Like the other union fans, my hope was that the team was not done with signings and would get that clinical striker that we’ve been clamoring for the last few years. Now, the Union appears to be very close to signing Brondby striker Mikael Uhre with a physical standing between the team officially announcing the signing. With the wild few weeks that have passed with rumors, here’s the timeline of how the rumors have broken down, what type of striker the union are getting and how does he fit into the current system
Rumor Mill Heating Up
The last few weeks have been a bit crazy when it comes to rumors. Things got kicked underway by Kevin Kinkead, who tweeted this little nugget of information on January 11th:
It’s not hyperbole when it’s said that this absolutely sent union twitter into a spiral. Everyone who has access to transferkmrkt was quickly looking up strikers that had a market value of $3 to $4 mil and have scored 10 plus goals in each of the last two seasons. Our very own Zach LoBasso even came up with his own list of strikers that fit the mold and seemed like realistic options. One of those very strikers was Uhre.
After that, it got a little quiet on the rumor mill. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there came a nugget of news about Kacper:
This was followed up Saturday morning with the following official announcement:
While this was all going on, some union twitter sleuths dug up a little nugget of news from Denmark, which seemed to suggest that Brondby had agreed to a transfer with a foreign club. Since he fit the profile of the player that Kevin had tweeted about, people were starting to put two and two together about him being the signing in question. Not too long after that piece of news, Brondby tweeted from their official account that they had accepted an offer from a foreign club for Mikael Uhre. Within an hour of that news, Jonathan Tannenwald tweeted his article, which all but confirmed that the signing was imminent, pending a physical. Union fans were rightly freaking out about such a signing, but who exactly is Mikael Uhre?
The Golden Dane
So now that the signing is almost fully complete, the real question that union fans are starting to ask is “Who is Mikael Uhre?”. To give the fans a quick summary, here are the particulars:
- Mikael Uhre
- Danish Striker
- 27 years old
- Played for Brondby since 2018
- Spent his entire career in Denmark
Now, the question I know that all union fans are asking is what are his goal numbers and why should we be excited for him? There are a number of reasons why we should be excited for him, but let me give you the two reasons why I’m excited.
- His production
- Looking at the stat line for Uhre, I can say that I’m certainly impressed. Going back to the 2018/2019 season, here are the goal and assist numbers that he has racked up:
- 2018/2019 Season: 43 GP, 21 G, 3 A
- 2019/2020 Season: 36 GP, 11 G, 2 A
- 2020/2021 Season: 34 GP, 21 G, 3 A
- 2021/2022 Season: 26 GP, 14 G, 2 A
- What these numbers show me is that he is a consistent 10+ goal scorer. I’ve highlighted the 2020/2021 season as he won the golden boot and Brondby won the league for the first time in 16 years. This is the type of player that the union have been needing and craving for a number of years
- Field Awareness
- I started to take a look at his highlights to get a full idea of what type of striker Uhre is and what it is that makes him such a dynamic striker. The thing that immediately stood out to me was his runs in and around the box. When he is outside the box, he makes the run to either open himself up for a through ball or give space for a teammate to come on in through. When he is around the box, he has this ruthless ability to get to the ball first no matter what. He always seems to either beat the center back to the near post or floats in behind to where they cannot get to him and he has a tap in finish. This thoroughly impressed me and I know it will impress the fans.
Uhre’s Fit in the Union System
Now, with all of this information, union fans may be wondering how it is exactly that he fits into the union system. He is certainly not kacper, who, as divisive as he was among the union faithful, was the team’s top scorer for most of his time here. Kacper was a holdup target forward who slowed the playdown and allowed the team to get caught up.
However, in the past few seasons, the team has tried to become more of a counterattacking team that moves quickly up the field, and with this, the team has needed a striker that can help move things up the field. Uhre has the pace and field awareness to certainly fit into the union system.
He definitely can fit either in the 4-4-2 or the 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree that Jim loved to play towards the end of the season. With the pace that he has shown, I see no reason why he can’t execute the pressing system that the team has switched to. This is the striker that I absolutely believe that union fans will be excited about.
With all this said, we still do not have an official announcement, but I fully expect this to get done this week as this deal is only pending a physical. I know I’m not in the minority of union fans when I say that I cannot wait for this signing to be officially announced.
I hope we give Mikael the welcome that I know he deserves when the season opens on February 26th against Minnesota. I know I will be with the PSN juggernaut and my DOOP by the River cohost Tim Lovenguth cheering Uhre on and I hope to see many of you all there as well. The season can’t start soon enough!!!!
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP
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