Scouting Sverre Nypan

An in-depth report on the teenage midfielder turning heads in Norway and beyond — his play style, potential, development areas, analytics, tactical fit, and readiness for the next step

Feb 26, 2025

If you ever find yourself researching someone who plays for Rosenborg BK, you may find yourself singing along.

Are you not entertained?

Such was the case as I delved into the work of Norwegian wunderkind Sverre Nypan, who turned 18 in December.

Top clubs throughout Europe have been swirling for his signature. He embarked upon a tour of prospective options this January, the details of which were shoddily “reported” by ITKs and amateur flight trackers alike, in keeping with the shambolic incentives of silly season. The Arsenal links were bulletproof, however, with no less than David Ornstein and James McNicholas reporting that dialogue was advancing. In keeping with the theme of our January, though, nothing happened.

Nypan’s father reflected on the whole ordeal, which he called “overwhelming,” while sharing why they ultimately opted for the long-game.

“He hasn't played a game since the first of December. When he comes in the summer and hopefully has been injury-free, he will be at his best. It is much better to show off with that starting point,” said Arne Nypan.

Sound logic.

He also outlined the six criteria the Nypan camp was looking for:

Strongly wanted by the club
Sverre’s gut feeling
Playing time
Social life off the field
The league’s status and media pressure
Economy

…and he also insisted that they were unlikely to wait until the beginning of the summer to make a decision.

Interesting.

It is no surprise to see such competition for Nypan’s services.

In a transfer market that increasingly features costly and fierce battles for early prospects, and is awash with multi-club finance types hoarding Pokémon in the pockets of their neutral fleece attire, the young Norwegian has been firmly on the radar.

He managed to log over 4,000 minutes playing against adults in the Eliteserien before his 18th birthday. At 15 years old, he was one of the youngest players to feature in the Norwegian top flight (narrowly behind Ødegaard), and was the youngest to ever appear in the UEFA Youth League — that is, before Max Dowman and three others stole his crown this year.

It wasn’t always so straightforward. The standard image of the professional-in-their-youth-days is of a different-level athlete weaving through opponents like training cones and shaking the nets with authority. A good example is Nypan’s compatriot Kristoffer Ajer, who told his own tale first-person:

“When I was six years old I was two heads taller than the rest of the players on the field,” said Ajer. “After a match where we won 30–0, I accounted for 26 goals. I remember I was refused to play the next matches of the tournament if I could not prove my age. After this, my mother always had my passport with her when I was playing football matches.”

Nypan, refreshingly, had a different story.

“I wasn't any good then. In the first training session, I think I scored an own goal and ran home screaming. It wasn't fun. But then I was persuaded to try again.”

That humbling period didn’t last long. Nypan got back on the horse, and the results quickly followed.

By 14, he had signed with local giants Rosenborg (known as Troillongan, or the 'Troll Children'), the most successful club in Norwegian top-flight history. While they hold the most titles (including 13 consecutive between 1992 and 2004), the largest stadium, and the most European wins in the league, the challenges have risen and the results have dipped. Increased parity, mismanagement, and instability have led the club to harder times, relatively speaking.

Rosenborg table finishes. Source: Transfermarkt

Amidst this backdrop, Nypan was thrown into the fray. His first two appearances, as a 15-year-old, saw him log 192 total minutes. The next year — his first full season with the senior team — saw the club finish down in ninth, the club’s lowest position since 1961–62.

His face looked his age, and there were growing pains, but my viewing didn’t show a player who was particularly overmatched, mentally or physically. The promise became production this year when the 17-year-old logged 14 G+A in 28 appearances.

(Note: fbref credits Nypan with one more assist than Wyscout does.)

The change in fortunes coincided with his continued physical development and the installation of 34-year-old manager Alfred Johansson at the helm. Johansson arrived from the youth setup of F.C. Copenhagen, and after some initially formulaic play in his 4-3-3, the team languished in 10th in midseason. Form, fluidity, and, notably — Nypan — improved, and the team was second-best after matchweek 11, ultimately finishing fourth and securing European play.

🧐 My priors and research

Before January, I had only seen a comp or two over the years, and had been reliably told that he is something of a “FM Legend.” (In news that will make you cry bullshit, I’ve never played Football Manager, aside from a few choice weeks on the mobile version, rocking a baby to sleep in that especially-weird initial period of COVID-19.)

Apart from that, though, I didn’t feel like I had a clear picture of him as a player, because I hadn’t seen a wider swath of data and video on him.

I had questions.

How “ready” is he?
Is he a build-up orchestrator, a final-third lock-picker, or something else?
What skills are refined, in development, or lacking?
How might he project physically?
How do you pronounce his name?

To better understand him as a player, I watched full matches against Jerv (2022), Aalesund (2023), HamKam (2024), and Molde (2024). I pulled “all action” videos against Manchester United, Strømsgodset, Lillestrøm, and Kristiansund. Then, I created a 100+ clip playlist of him performing different roles, duties, and actions while playing across setups (dribbles, losses, pressures, crosses, passes, etc). I’ve had wider sample sizes in previous reports, but these games were hard to come by. As such, the uncertainty is a bit higher, and this shouldn’t be taken as gospel.

I found some mild surprises. Join me.

⚽️ Player overview

Nypan is a mature, energetic young midfielder with a wide range of intriguing skills.

👉 Role experience

Players generally shouldn’t be pigeonholed into a role too early. In our rush to figure it out, we can forget that they will develop and surprise us, and their bodies may be completely different in a year. Look at the development of Saka, Lewis-Skelly, and Nwaneri for proof.

Nypan has bounced around a little — as a depth option at RCM, as the deeper forward in a 4-4-2 for the Norway youth setup, as an occasional striker for his club, and even a start at right-back. But he has generally had a clear remit at Rosenborg.

He is an LCM in a 4-3-3, playing ahead of the lone-6 captain and veteran Ole Kristian Selnæs, and is featured in the higher, less-touch-intensive pockets. His role is to receive between the lines and quickly turn build-up into attacks. He can roam to do so.

Rosenborg are the youngest team in the league, logging the third-highest possession rates along the way.

The motives for this role are fairly clear: at present, Nypan can hurt opponents the most up top. Playing higher keeps a young player away from shouldering too much responsibility on the ball and risking deep losses.

Still, it’s hard to decouple “this is what a manager wants generally” from “this is the best way to use Nypan.” Nypan appears to have the receiving ability and touch to operate lower, but he just doesn't do it very often.

As play advances, Nypan generally hangs out here in this pocket, but is free to float around as needed, a freedom he exercises a solid (and confident) amount. If you’re thinking that this role — lower touch, hopefully higher impact — is starting to look a little familiar to our LCM role, you’re ahead of the class.

The LCM role in the press requires a lot of running. Rosenborg press out in a tight 4-3-3 that requires Nypan to track inside, forward, and outside. Sitting wide in a bank of three (instead of four), there is risk: if he makes the wrong move, a lane opens up.

Rosenborg are an intense side in an intense league. They’re second in both challenge intensity and Passes Allowed Per Defensive Action (PPDA).

👉 Adaptability

When thinking about how his skillset will transfer across leagues, there is good news and bad news.

I’ll start with the bad:

Opta has Rosenborg ranked as the 309th-best club in the world, which places them around Championship sides like Watford and Millwall.
The almighty coefficient has Norway as the 12th-best league in the world, surrounded by the likes of Greece, Austria, and Scotland. Some other services have them lower.

In short: yes, this would be a huge jump for Nypan. He is not “Premier League proven,” or anything close to it. He is also yet to make his senior debut for Norway.

Now, some additional context:

The Eliteserien requires a lot of intense running. In this brilliant SCOUTED epic, we learn that the average player in Norway covers more distance, at a higher intensity, and requires more accelerations, than any top-5 league, including the Premier League. It’s noticeable as soon as you flick a game on.
He’s been playing against adults for a while now.

👉 Physical attributes

One of the first things you notice is how hard Nypan goes.

Look at him, behind the ball-carrier, trying desperately to get a low-probability overlap.

If you’re picturing a pure calma technician, he may have that in his bag, but he’s generally something else. He’s a young man in a hurry. His speed isn’t in the highest end, but it’s quite good, and his acceleration should translate well.

He is reportedly 6’0 and has a nice athletic base, a broad but lean frame, and room for growth. He looks taller this year than last. He’s got a slight chest, and you can envision him bulking up from here. In Norway, he rides challenges and doesn’t get pulled down easily: many older players foul him for their troubles. Near-term, he would have less luck in the Premier League, and it’s such an essential part of his game that it’s worth a pause about how quickly it translates.

The other big notch in his corner: he is basically fully ambipedal. There’s a difference between “good with both feet” and “genuinely will use whatever foot is best in a situation,” and he falls more in the latter camp.

This works for him in a lot of ways. One example is when I saw him swing out to RW and run a 1v1 as an inverted winger, performing all his control touches and setups with his ‘weaker’ left. The other way is in getting first-touch rips off in the box: he doesn’t need a control touch, he just hits it at whatever angle is “on.” His ability to control it, wherever it’s fired, makes him more flexible positionally.

👉 Playing temperament

In all the games I saw, he was persistent, dogged, and tactically confident.

He is unfussy and streamlined with the ball. This is an area where the comps and the full-90s differ. While the Youtube clips will show a varied bag of tricks, in reality, he is usually keeping the complicated, shiny stuff under wraps.

His eagerness is dependent. He is not overeager to get on the ball, which is likely tactical: he generally holds space, finds pockets, and keeps the channels filled. From there, once a move is on, he snaps into action, often making a pristine first move (turn and carry) and being less consistent from there (final balls, dribbling into dead-ends, etc).

When defending, he is very active, good at covering ground, and savvy for his age. One of the first things I look for is a player’s reaction to a ball loss: do they drop their head, or snap right into a challenge? He fares well.

In transition, or when box defending, he can get sucked onto the ball-side and lose runners behind him. His potential position in the middle of a 4-4-2 defensive block is one of the primary reasons for concern for now.

🔥 In-possession analysis

Source of this graphic, and similar ones to come: Wyscout

👉 Deeper passing and receiving

He is an extremely clean receiver of the ball in nearly every situation. Because of his base-level coordination and his two-footedness, the security of his gathering almost becomes an afterthought. He’s strong at shielding, uses “body as barrier,” anticipates contact, and isn’t finicky about what kind of ball he requires. It’s a real strength.

There are all kinds of slightly-off little passes that he kills without bother. The ball agrees with him.

As such, whenever he is assisting in rondo-like buildup — short, quick, back, lateral stuff — the play is crisp, but there is just very little of it. I kept looking for deeper examples of him orchestrating play from the first phase and it’s just not something he has been asked to do very much.

There are a few factors there. First, his pure technical clarity (and IQ) in short passing situations looks really good. That said, his full passing range looks promising but inconsistent — and he currently looks to be urgent by default (meaning, it’s unclear whether he can speed things up or slow things down as the needs of the game require).

His play shines brightest in quick 1-2 work like this.

From deep, you’ll see what’s so alluring here. He makes a quick read and hits a curling long-ball over the top that almost hits his forward. Why is this missed pass interesting? This is his weaker left foot.

But you’ll also see some pure mishits as he tries to harness his talents.

It should be kept in perspective. On this loss chart, you’ll see how few dangerous losses he amassed over a few year. Look at the white passing lines and you’ll notice how he’s almost entirely been able to avoid the truly costly ones.

👉 Advanced passing, playmaking, and crossing

His job right now is to take risks, be immediate, and make goals happen in the final third. The potential is high, and some of the output is too, but he’s currently a work-in-progress when passing in advanced areas.

I pulled the last 365 days of production from 15 baseline attacking midfielders for comparison (think Ødegaard, Musiala, Paz, Moleiro, etc). In that group:

Nypan had the lowest rate of passes completed into the penalty area (43.66% in the last year)
Nypan had the lowest rate of forward completed passes (61.79% in the last year)

For reference, those numbers are about 20% lower than Ødegaard.

It’s not all bad, but the comparison is useful to keep things in check.

Here’s a look at the sample when narrowed to the previous season:

When it goes well, it looks like this. As you’ll see, Nypan immediately sees himself as a third man and delivers an assist right into the central pocket.

There are more than a few of those on tape. And better yet: there’s a bit of subtlety and disguise to most of them.

Perhaps his strongest delivery is this Xhaka-like through-ball from that left pocket. You can easily envision these slipped passes being a key weapon.

There are some also comp-ready moments — like this flick.

But he simply struggles with consistently weighting through-balls. His vision for these is nice, and his technical base is good — he just overhits them a lot.

There are a lot of those: you really just don’t know how far it’s going to when he winds up. Nypan himself seems frustrated by it, because the vision is there.

His crossing, similarly, is loose and unrefined, but you’ll see moments when the potential shines.

I suspect that he’ll become good at floating these to the far-post, but for now, it’s just not reliably honed in.

I also think his underlap game will turn into a real strength.

For now, he gets by on quantity of advanced actions: he grades highly for key passes, heaving it into high areas with a lot of frequency. He generally has a good feel for risk; as impatient and impulsive as he can be up high, he doesn’t usually lose the ball in more bothersome areas.

I tend to think he’ll figure out the passing repertoire, as the base-level technicality, two-footedness, and coordination is there, but it’s not there yet, mainly because of an inconsistency in his execution. It’s hard to speak with too much confidence about how it’ll turn out, but as there are so many flashes, there’s room to hope.

👉 Dribbling and carrying

Nypan is a strong carrier, likely a special one. His dribbling is still in progress.

When I started watching Nypan for this report, I posted my initial impressions on Bluesky.

Fwiw: not seeing any real resemblance to Ødegaard. The more I watch him, the more he feels like a B-spec Bellingham. Frame feels big, active, his technicality is strong and minimalist. He’s lower-touch with a good sense for crashing the box. Still early in my impressions, though.

Here was the clip that caused that tweet — er, post.

If you see how unbothered he is by challenges, how active he is, how relatively minimalist but subtly technical his actions can be, and even some of the mannerisms (that little hop on the outside-boot pass), you’ll see why the comparison came to mind. I later learned that it wasn’t exactly a unique association to make.

A more reasonable comp of him with the ball? Maybe it’s just the number, but he can remind me a good deal of Jacob Ramsey.

They pick up the same spots, use both feet, have great balance, and are skilled carriers of the ball. Nypan can be more frenetic, while Ramsey is safer with the ball up top.

On the carry, he gets up to speed quickly and uses his frame well. He’s comfortable riding challenges, shielding with his body, and keeping his balance through contact. His running posture leans slightly forward, mostly upright with a minor slant. In transition, he can drive with real purpose, covering ground in a hurry. As I’ve said elsewhere, players try to foul him a lot.

He’s not the kind to slow-play a carry, keep his man on skates, and feint his way through — he’s more direct, running into open space and drawing commitments as defenders scramble. If he has a lane, he takes it.

Tighter-space dribbling is more of a mixed bag. The control and technical foundation are there, but he’s prone to dead-end runs, where he gets moving before apprising himself of the situation.

His instincts still lean toward overcommitment — taking one more touch when it’s not on, bursting forward when the right play is a reset. It’s not that he lacks quick feet or guile. He just hasn’t ironed out when to engage, when to pause, when to find an exit strategy.

But he is comfortable receiving under pressure, turning out of tight spots, and breaking into space when given the option. If the play allows him to move vertically, he’s in his element. If it demands layered deception, stop-start hesitation, or a final ball immediately on the run, he’s still finding his way.

👉 Box movement and ball-striking

You won’t see many shot charts more evenly-distributed than that: 31 left-footed shots, 27 from the right. I repeat: he’s right-footed. Supposedly.

Nypan is a pragmatic finisher who hits through the ball cleanly. Needless to say, he’s equally comfortable finishing with either foot and rarely needs an extra touch to set himself up. This is where he’s just so good:

As you see there, the off-ball movement in the box is a real asset. That feel for timing and space can be hard to teach, and some players just have it. He definitely does.

He times late arrivals well, drifting into dangerous spaces without drawing too much attention.

He can put his foot through a ball. Something else you’ll notice here is that a couple years ago, he may have been slightly smaller and wigglier in tight spaces. He kind of looked genuinely winger-ish then; he feels a little bigger and more upright now.

…but he’s not a long-range menace yet.

His feel for space in the box is already beyond the years. His ability to hit finishes first-touch is very useful in crowded boxes, and would be a sight for sore eyes for Arsenal fans.

👉 Out-of-possession, second balls, aerials

His work rate is high, and his counter-pressing instincts are excellent. If he or a teammate loses possession, he’s after it immediately. No head drops, no delayed reactions — he’s chippy, engaged, and eager to win it back. In Rosenborg’s high-energy pressing setup, this fits well.

His general level of engagement would fit in well with an Arteta side.

Second-ball reactions are sharp. He reads loose balls well, doesn’t hesitate to put his foot in, and has a knack for getting his body in the way at the right moment. His level of two-footed coordination means he can bring down the ball in tough situations.

This is something that has evolved: in the 2022 game I watched, I saw some loose challenges and high lags, and those have seemingly been mostly eradicated from his game. When the ball is bouncing around in midfield, he’s usually one of the first to react and make it a duel.

There are two concerns. For one, he can get caught ball-watching and lose runners in his blindside. You’ll see the opponent sneak behind him and nail a sick trivela here.

This is also true in transition, where he can lean too far on the ball-side and lose runners through the middle.

The other concern is just defending in a block. I have less concerns about his pressing, especially next to Rice, but when things settle down, there would be a worry about whether he’d jump out and track the ball a bit too much, opening up lanes.

His aerials need a lot of work. He’s got some height, and may have room to grow, but the timing isn’t there yet. This combines for one headed goal, multiple mistimed jumps on tape, and a duel win rate of just 25%. He’s not getting over the ball consistently, and he’s missing the ball on both ends of the pitch.

That can improve, but a lot of it is instinctive.

🤕 Injury history

Here’s what is listed at Transfermarkt:

While it sounds so simple, it can be hard to find trustworthy injury information about prospects like Nypan. What’s clear is that there was at least one setback. Here’s what Nypan had to say:

“I got a lot stronger and put on a few kilos during that period," Nypan added. "It really only helped me. I have become a better player after the injury period than I was before.”

🧠 Positional projection

This won’t be too surprising.

He’s fairly purpose-built for that left-8 role: floating, dropping to help, but ultimately staying high, being opportunistic, running a lot, and crashing the box. A more midfieldery, technical version of what we’ve seen from Merino and Havertz. A Rice/Ødegaard/Nypan or a Rice/Nwaneri/Nypan or a Rice/Merino/Nypan midfield can definitely work on paper.

Especially as he develops, he’d have no problem covering the other #8 role (Ødegaard’s spot). You hear a lot about “angle bias,” and as far as I can tell, Nypan has none. He can play wherever.

There is still a slight chance that he has a Gravenberch double-pivot-#6 arc in him. I’ve liked almost everything I’ve seen of him in deeper positions, even if it’s a small sample size and straightforward. His scanning is on time, he withstands contact, and his receiving is wonderful.

For now, it looks like his future is up the pitch.

🐻 Bear case

In the bear case, he doesn’t scale physically as well as hoped and struggles to make the leap in tempo, which limits his playing time and development.

If his final-third execution never sharpens, he becomes another midfielder who moves the ball well but doesn’t break games. Arsenal already have players who can combine, circulate possession, and get the ball into good areas. What is needed is someone who delivers the nasty, block-beating final ball at the exact right time. If Nypan stays in an adjustment period for too long, that issue persists, and the final-action problem remains unsolved.

In that case, more responsibility falls on the wingers to deliver. Arsenal would lean even more on wide players whipping in crosses or taking defenders on 1v1. That’s not always a bad thing, but a reliance on one or two prime creative outlets makes the team easier to defend in mid-to-low-block situations, where space is already at a premium. If Nypan can’t consistently create from central areas, Arsenal’s attacking patterns stay incomplete.

There’s also a question of risk. Nypan is comfortable receiving in high-traffic zones and turning under pressure, but some of those losses at the top of the box can be costlier in the Premier League. If he gets caught trying to thread a difficult pass, mistimes a carry, or gets stripped in midfield, it’s a counter the other way. Arsenal are built to dominate possession, but can sometimes still be vulnerable in transition. If Nypan’s directness turns into sloppiness, those central giveaways turn into high-danger chances against.

Then there’s the most likely doomer scenario: the adjustment just takes too long. He struggles to impose himself on the carry, the game moves faster than he’s used to, and he ends up finding minutes too hard to come by. He wouldn’t be the first young midfielder with high potential to get lost in the shuffle. If he doesn’t play, he doesn’t develop. And if he doesn’t develop, Arsenal have a promising talent sitting on the bench while some stubborn issues remain unresolved.

🐂 Bull case

Some of the youngest midfielders in the league these days include Jack Hinshelwood, Kobbie Mainoo, Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, Lewis Miley, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Ethan Nwaneri. However you rank them quality-wise, there is little reason to believe that Nypan couldn’t find himself among that group as a pure talent. Some players have so many details to refine that they need to play every minute; because of his confidence and relative completeness, I get the sense that Nypan could succeed as a roleplayer with increasing minutes.

In the bull case, Nypan is an ideal tactical and cultural match. He covers both #8 positions and adds something Arsenal need: urgency. In the short-term, he is a “hype man” sub and cup player who adds a spiciness to the contest, seeing the next action and executing quickly, whether that’s a quick give-and-go, a direct carry, or a first-time ball into space. Arsenal’s midfield can get bogged down at times — too methodical, too safe. Nypan speeds things up.

In the longer-term, he can also feasibly develop as a matchup-proof LCM. His ambipedality means he can escape pressure both ways, his touch security holds up under duress, and he’s got the size and energy to handle different kinds of opponents — whether lower as a double-pivot 8 or higher as a SS/10. If you want him buzzing between the lines and combining in tight areas, he can do that. If you need him to put in a shift defensively and contest everything, he’ll do that, too. He’s not limited by a specific game state or opposition setup. He winds up racking up goal contributions on underlaps and easy strikes from Saka cutbacks.

The bedding-in process might be quick because his tactical IQ is already high — he scans well, holds space intelligently, and knows how to fill gaps in a system. His physical application backs it up. He plays at a repeatable, high-intensity level, going again and again, whether in pressing sequences, box-to-box recovery runs, or late off-ball movements to create space.

The big upside, though, comes if his dribbling, passing bag, and ball-striking continue to develop. Right now, he’s effective in tight spaces and can hit through the ball well. If that progresses into something more — if he adds sharper dribbling sequences, a bit more venom in his strikes, or cleaner execution/whip on his final passes — then we’re talking about a serious player. Someone who is a plus in Arsenal’s pressing and counter-pressing structure, but also a real technical asset in possession.

At that point, he’s more than an engine. He’s something special.

🔥 Final thoughts

Squad-building should be disciplined. Given the relentless pace of the modern schedule, though — more games, more competitions, more attritional wear — priors need to be updated, and discipline can’t be an end to itself. In my amended, ideal Arsenal world, that basically means an extra ~£10m prospect signing and an extra ~£30m flexible, young, athletic attacking piece beyond what you’d normally plan for. Over the course of a season, if you’ve scouted well enough, those players will find their minutes.

Because Arsenal aren’t part of a multi-club structure, they have natural limitations. They can’t really pitch a Savinho-style path to prospects: “one of our sister clubs will buy you, loan you to PSV, then loan you to our other sister club, before earning a job in the lights.” That means any young signing generally has to be high-potential, high-IQ, and capable of breaking down the door for minutes quickly. And crucially, that player should have some pace and power to protect the investment. Why? The Premier League drives the biggest valuations — if a move doesn’t pan out, you need to ensure the player passes the physical test of the league, so the big money comes a-calling.

And so the path is narrow, and these talents are rare. Still, I’d love to see Arsenal make a Nypan-sized signing more often, as long as there’s a viable pathway; with two midfielders leaving and Lewis-Skelly thriving at left-back, I generally think there is a right-sized opportunity for him here. We’ve seen this work with players like Bergvall. Some young talents are readier earlier than ever — tactically sharp, physically competitive, and capable of handling senior football. But there just aren’t that many of them.

My main hesitation? I’d still like to see a midfield option with real whip and some serious tight-space dribbling ability — especially if Rice, Zubimendi, and Ødegaard form the base midfield. Did I mention I like Eze, whom I also consider to be a winger? That profile is one of Arsenal’s shortcomings against the teams best equipped to stifle them. Nwaneri is definitely an answer to that question, but it’s still a bit short on the squad list. Nypan has a lot of useful tools, but some of those skills are still in development.

What makes him so compelling is that balance of physical application and tactical intelligence. He’s got high-ceiling traits that make the analysts drool — nose for goal, pure comfort on the ball, a slickness to his actions — but he’s got some of the ready-made physical and mental characteristics that’ll make a coach actually play him. That’s a rare midpoint to find.

No wonder he’s so sought-after.