Could Dejan Kulusevski join the list of best Swedish imports in the Premier League?
- Cameron Loftus
- 21 February 2022
Tottenham’s January signing Dejan Kulusevski became the 68th Swedish player to play in the Premier League earlier this month.
Tottenham's new loan star made his debut against Southampton earlier this month, but his first start came on Saturday against Manchester City, where his goal made him just the fourth Swede to score on their first top-flight start after Martin Pringle (1999), Johan Elmander (2008), and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2016).
Freddie Ljungberg
The undisputed best Swedish import comes in the shape of ex-Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg.
Known for his crazy hairstyles - including a bright pink mohawk - Ljungberg's entertainment value didn't solely come from his superb talent with a football.
Ljungberg, who earned 75 caps for his nation, was famously a part of The Invincibles team of 2003/04, where he lined up alongside the likes of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp.
He also won the league with the Gunners two years prior, and following his nine years at Highbury and the Emirates, Ljungberg spent a season with West Ham.
After making 216 Premier League appearances for the Gunners, Ljungberg has spent most of his time back at Arsenal, where he is now an assistant coach to Mikel Arteta.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The most famous Swede to play in the Premier League. Zlatan's charisma and skill makes him too good to leave out (even if he was only here for just over one season).
His first season at Manchester United was a success, but his second was curtailed by a cruciate injury that left him sidelined for much of the Red Devils' campaign.
Manchester United secured Zlatan's signature in the summer of 2016, and he hit the ground running, netting four times in his first three Premier League appearances. That season he became the oldest player to manage 15 league goals in a season, and was also named on the six-man shortlist for the PFA Player of the Year.
Ibrahimovic also picked up two winners medals while at Old Trafford. Firstly, he lifted the League Cup after scoring twice in the final against Southampton. He followed it up with Europa League success, although he did miss the semi-final and final through injury.
His time at United was special, albeit short, scoring some wonderful goals and quickly adapting to a new league like he has done so often in the past.
Olof Mellberg
A tough-tackling leader, Olof Mellberg is fondly remembered as one of Aston Villa's best defenders of the Premier League era. In seven years at Villa Park, the central defender scored eight times in 232 league matches, averaging 33 games per season.
Mellberg joined from Racing Santander in 2001 and was quickly made captain of David O'Leary's side before handing the armband over to Gareth Barry in 2006.
After announcing he was leaving for Italian giants Juventus, Mellberg gave every single Villa fan who attended his last match versus West Ham at Upton Park a shirt with his name and number on the back - and a message reading 'Thanks 4 Your Support'.
Sebastian Larsson
He made 282 top-flight appearances spanning over a decade, registering 26 goals and a further 28 assists. Larsson could play anywhere across midfield and was known for scoring high-class goals, mainly from outside the penalty box. In fact, 11 of his goals came from free-kicks, putting him joint-fifth on the all-time list alongside Laurent Robert and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Johan Elmander
As well as being one of one four Swedes to score on their English top-flight debut, Johan Elmander is the third-highest scoring Swede in the league's history, after Ljungberg (48) and Larsson (26), with 19.
For that reason alone he's justified his place on this list, even if the striker did take 121 games to do so. His strike rate of just one goal per 6.4 matches came while playing for Bolton Wanderers and Norwich across four seasons.
In 2011, he did score a memorable strke for Bolton against Wolves. When a pass into the box saw him surrounded by four defenders, Elmander cleverly found space and followed it up with a fitting finish into the bottom corner.
Jonas Olsson
Defenders often don't get enough praise, and Olsson definitely falls under that category. The 6ft 5" giant was a superb defender for West Brom, making over 200 appearances in eight Premier League campaigns in the Midlands.
He arrived at the club in 2008 for a bargain fee of £800,000 from Dutch side NEC Nijmegen and quickly became an integral part of the Baggies side. Olsson did suffer relegation in his first season in England, but the Swede helped them bounce straight back to the Premier League and spent another seven seasons at the heart of their defence.
Olsson finds himself in the top 10 Swedish Premier League scorers, having scored eight times alongside fellow defender Olof Mellberg, with his side winning six and drawing two of the games that he scored in.
This included him netting the only goal in an impressive victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2015. Rather luckily, Chris Brunt's powerful free kick struck Olsson who was standing in the wall - the resulting deflection wrong-footed David de Gea.
Who could join the list?
There are currently seven Swedish players in the Premier League. Of those, Anthony Elanga is the brightest talent, and the 19-year-old added to his stock by netting against Leeds for Manchester United in last weekend's 4-2 win.
His United teammate Victor Lindelof is probably in with a shout of getting on the list in the near future, after he joined the club in 2017 from Benfica. The current Sweden captain has played 128 times in the Premier League, scoring three goals from defence.
Other Swedes in the top flight are Pontus Jansson (Brentford), Emil Krafth (Newcastle), Ken Sema (Watford) and Robin Olsen (Aston Villa).
