"A street-footballer is often perceived as a creative freestyler, but that is not how I look at it. In my opinion a street-footballer is a technically gifted player who makes good decisions quickly", Keld Bordinggaard, head of coaching at the most successful club in German football by a country mile this season, Bayer Leverkusen, explains in an exclusive conversation with Tribalfootball.com.
Bordinggaard, who won four caps for Denmark when still active, likes to define himself as a street-footballer, while a current player like Florian Wirtz from their own ranks also fits into the picture. Wirtz is a massive talent most likely destined for greatness. Another example is Manchester United starlet Rasmus Højlund.
"He is raw with a lot of quality, and he is a player who is very good at connecting with the players around him. But he is also received a very good schooling at FC Copenhagen. Perhaps even better than they knew themselves," Bordinggaard says of the player who "The Lions" loaded off to Austrian club Sturm Graz.
They did that before Højlund was able to make any impact at FC Copenhagen, whereas Sturm Graz quickly sold him on to Serie A outfit Atalanta, making a handsome profit in a short space of time. One wonders what both clubs saw in Højlund that his parent club didn't.
"Sturm clearly spotted a player which could help them at a level just below FC Copenhagen. For him to develop like that, no one saw coming. Obviously, FC Copenhagen wouldn't have let him go, if they had. That is what happens when humans enter the equation and thankfully, we see that all the time. You can't put a footballer's development in a formula, there are simply too many variables."
While Rasmus Højlund is one of the hotter properties at Old Trafford these days, in the 80's another Dane plied his trade with Manchester United. Jesper Olsen is a name still ringing a few bells with United-fans of an older age group.
The diminutive Dane played four years for "The Red Devils" but failed to make an impression on Alex Ferguson. However, he is highly rated by his countryman, who describes him as an archetypal street-footballer.
"He's been a little forgotten in our consciousness because he moved to Australia, but to me he is one of Denmark's best footballers. Not quite up there with Michael Laudrup and Allan Simonsen, but certainly in the level just below," Bordinggaard recalls of a player he shared a pitch with for Denmark.
