Who is Rasmus Kristensen?
FPL Reactions has once again been having a look at one of the Premier League new arrivals. This time he has assessed Leeds’ new signing Rasmus Kristensen and whether he could be a good asset for FPL managers.
You can access the thread here.
Kristensen is now officially a Leeds United player
Why should Leeds fans, football fans and FPL players be excited ?
The right footed 24 year old was born amongst a family full of footballers including former Sturm Graz player Sigurd Kristensen (his uncle) and Leon Jessen of Midtjylland (cousin).
Youth career
Kristensen actually started playing football at 6 years old for Brande IF.
Brande IF play in Jutland, Denmark, founded in 1906 but no longer competing in the top three tiers domestically. Kristensen went onto spend six years at the club until he was 12 years old. He then joined Herning Fremad FC where he played for two years between ages 12-14.
Herning Fremad eventually merged with Ikast FS to create FC Midtjylland. This is where he signed his youth contract FC Midtjylland are a Danish team that are regularly competing for the Danish Super Liga. They are three times winners and five times runners up with cup success as well.
Kristensen was promoted to the first team squad in 2016 at 18 years old and signed his first professional contract of five years. In his 2015/2016 season Kristensen played 12 matches, coming away with a goal and two assists, and primarily played as a left back for that period.
First Team
In his 2016/2017 season for Midtjylland Kristensen began to solidify his first team position. Playing 34 matches domestically, scoring two goals and creating four assists. That same season the Dane played eight Europa matches and came away with another three assists.
It was also the same season Kristensen secured a position and that was right back. In Kristensens final half a season for Midtjylland. He played 17 league matches, scored three goals, created one assist and combined with clean sheets came away with a nice return to game ratio.
Playing another seven matches in the Europa League and coming away with both a goal and an assist Kristensen was getting used to playing on the big stages. The system changed for that half a season pushing Kristensen into a right wing back roll which he adapted to well.
Midtjylland highlights
Take a look at some of Kristensen highlights from Midtjylland, you’ll see just how offensively minded he is and his attacking capabilities, a great watch.
Ajax
After impressing, Ajax came in to sign Kristensen for around £4.5 million. In the half of the season Kristensen did play he struggled for game time only starting five matches. You can see from the heat map that he played right back and was hugely offensive.
Going into his first full season in 18/19 for Ajax Kristensen only managed five starts and 12 features. Creating two assists and keeping five clean sheets in that period. Even for that short period he managed 0.6 key passes per match.
Although short it was very sweet in that Kristensen won silverware with Ajax. The Dane helped Ajax reach the Eredivisie (domestic league) and the KNVB cup. Upon reflection his competition for the right back spot was always a tough job, competing against one of Europes most promising right backs around in Mazraoui. A player that has this season gone onto sign for German giants Bayern. This is relevant because if competing against anyone else I imagine Kristensen could have nailed a first team right back spot.
Red Bill Salzburg
In 2019 of July just after his birthday Rasmus Kristensen secured a transfer to Austrian Club Red Bull Salzburg. A team regularly playing in Europe and fighting for the domestic league and trophies Interestingly it was Jesse Marsch, the now manager of Leeds who requested.
The signing of Kristensen. In his first season under Marsch. Kristensen started 10 matches, creating one assist and keeping four clean sheets. He averaged of one key pass per match. He also started all six Champions League matches for Salzburg, showing how much Marsch trusted him.
You can see his offensive drive continue at Salzburg with more time spent in the opponents half than his own. His silverware success also continued with winning both the domestic league trophy and the Austrian Cup.
In his second season his game time and reliability progressed, starting 25 matches, scoring three goals, creating two assists and keeping six clean sheets. Featuring heavily again in the Champions League and Europa League. His attacking hunger continued, improved actually, with more positioning in the oppositions box.
Once again Kristensen won the Austrian Bundesliga and the Austrian cup.
Then Jesse Marsch left and Matthias Jaissle took over. He also took a massive shine to Kristensen who really came through under Jaissle starting 29 matches, scoring seven goals, creating three assists and keeping 13 clean sheets. This equates to 23 returns in 29 matches.
They also got through to the last 16 in the Champions League, getting past teams like Sevilla, Lille and Wolfsburg. Kristensen was once again very attacking, averaging 1.4 shots per game.
For the third and final time Kristensen came away with a double silverware season with both the league and domestic cup. Take a look at some of Kristensens Salzburg highlights, some of the things we’re likely to see from the Dane for Leeds.
Rasmus Kristensen: attributes
- Pace
- Power
- Machine like athleticism
- Aerial
- Stamina
- Key passes
- Shooting
- Duels
- Leadership
- Passion
Kristensen also managed to earn his international debut in 2021 with Denmark. He created a Fantasy assist just last week in the Nations League.
Ex manager quotes
He showed great energy and raw strength and won some duels which set us off something offensive for us.
Jess Thorup (Former Midtjylland manager)
Rasmus Kristensen is one of our best players and has improved a lot over the last 2 years
Jesse Marsch (Former Salzburg manager and current Leeds manager)
He is an absolute leader on the pitch. His emotions push the whole team. As a right back he has a very offensive drive, matches up and down the line and a very good thread.
Matthias Jaissle
What do Rasmus Kristensen say about himself?
My Opinion
Exciting, bullish, attacking, shoots on sight, passionate, an engine. Having written about him for UCL Fantasy before I know of him very well. He also took a few penalties last season for Salzburg. If priced at 4.5 million in FPL he could be an absolute diamond.
