Roony Bardghji is the next player in a line of coups for the Danish Superliga, as Danish clubs are attracting some of the best talent from neighbouring Scandinavian leagues. Last season Andreas Schjelderup was picked up from Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt before having an excellent Spring season at FC Nordsjælland. This season, it is Malmö FF’s loss and Roony’s turn to set the league alight.

Player History

Born in Kuwait, Roony was trained at a number of Swedish clubs before being poached by FC Kobenhavn from Malmö FF, the Swedish city connected by the Öresund Bridge. Before being eligible for the first team Roony impressed in the FCK U19 and U17 teams, and was rushed through to the first team as soon as he was old enough. Prior to his arrival FCK were lacking an attacking figure on the wing with Rasmus Falk injured, and due to having sold Mohammed Daramy in August. It is a clear credit to his current ability that the FCK coaches saw him as the solution to their problems, and so just days after his 16th birthday, Roony was picked to start against mid-table AGF. A week later, in his second start, Roony scored his first Superliga goal — a 25 yard effort into the bottom corner of the net. This goal making him by far the youngest goal scorer in the leagues history at 16 years and 13 days, which is a record that could go unbeaten.

With the Superliga on a winter break, the next game for Roony will be in February 2022; a break that will see the hype and expectation build. From my experience watching talented footballers making their debut appearances, the first few games can be their most exciting. A combination of adrenaline, fearlessness, and lack of responsibility in the wide position mean that it is easy to initially impress and it’s not until the adrenaline wears off, and the expectation raises from fancy footwork to meaningful output, that talents are properly tested. Roony has now stamped his mark on his position in the FCK squad with two great performances, but the reality is that after the winter break he will be properly tested.

Due to his age at the start of the season, Roony is in the uber-cool phase of not being in either the FIFA video games, or Football Manager. Assuming that he is now added to both of these games, it will be fascinating to see how he is rated. A rating of just lower than the average of an attacking FCK player would be around 67, the only 16 years old comparable in FIFA 22 are Barcelona and Dortmund wonder kids Gavi and Moukoko. This is a point where his rating can seriously affect the weight of expectation on him. It’s easy to see the possibility that he could be rated as a world-class wonderkid, which flips the audience on him from being mostly Danish fans, to a more global audience.

Style of Play

It’s harder to judge Roony currently, having had such a small sample of senior football. So I will revisit this at the end of the season with — presumably — a much larger sample size of games.

Roony has only played two senior FCK games so far, and a handful of Sweden U17 caps.

In both these FCK games he has been deployed on the right wing, as part of a front four. Both on and off the ball Roony deployed a variety of approaches. With the ball at his feet, he has been very positive, with great confidence to dribble at defenders. His great acceleration and agility underpins this dribbling quality, proven by the highlight from his debut against AGF; a confident dribble into the right side of the penalty box, where he feigned cutting in, before cutting back to deliver a reasonable floated cross into the far post of the box with his weaker right foot. Another highlight of this particular play was his exceptional movement off the ball to receive the ball; a slight move deep luring the defender out of the offside line, before pouncing at the right moment to break back through into the newly opened space.

In his second game against Aalborg, Roony became the youngest goalscorer in Danish Superliga history with a wonderful left footed strike from 25 yards. A strike that showed a combination of power, and accuracy. In fact, Roony has displayed a preference for this type of shot; a long range effort with his left foot into the bottom right of the goal. He scored similar goals for the Swedish U17 team, and most of his shots in his two senior games have come from outside the box. This is a trait that may, or may not be welcome, in the future.

Personally, Roony reminds me a lot of a 16 year-old Jude Bellingham, not necessarily in style of play, but in confidence and how he has fit into a senior side. There has been nothing about his play so far to suggest that he doesn’t fit into the first team squad as a genuine first team player.

The Future

There will be two challenges coming up for him: The superliga championship group, where FCK will play the top 6 teams for over 10 games, and the Europa Conference League. Both of these will provide opportunities for Roony to play against tough teams in meaningful games.

Over this time Roony will no doubt be tested in terms of his place in the team, but the opportunity is there to be the first name on the team sheet. Conversely, FCK also have the opportunity to strengthen the team over the winter break, and the return of Rasmus Falk will provide competition.

A transfer out of FC København is unlikely this winter, and questions about next steps in Roony’s career are probably best left at least until next summer; But if he can carry on like he started, the future is bright for Roony.

Originally posted in the Danish Superliga Talents Series: https://medium.com/@213athletics/roony-bardghji-danish-superliga-talents-687954f78f28