The Red Bulls confirmed recent rumors and formally announced the signing of Danish Forward Mathias Jørgensen to a multi-year contract from Danish side Odense Boldklub (OB).
While only being 18, Jørgensen has experience playing on Denmark’s U-18 and U-19 national teams as well as professional league play in his home country. He will be the youngest rostered first-team player in for the club this season.
The young Danish forward has been turning heads for the past few years as he quickly rose through the ranks abroad. He signed with OB at the age of 16 and during his tenure with the youth squad he scored 28 goals over the 25 games he appeared with the team – and that’s not including an additional nine goals he scored with the reserve team during that time.
After making his professional debut last April, Jørgensen continued to show promise has notched up three goals through 18 games and demonstrated incredible set-up and finishing ability as the team’s striker.
The first team has rarely focused on forwards during its off-season, with Mathias only being the second such player for the position to be picked up after Janos Loebe of Fordham University was drafted in the first round of the MLS Draft. New York’s main focus has mostly been in its midfield and defensive areas – most likely after losing players such as Tyler Adams and Aurélien Collin.
Still, with a youth academy that continues to produce talent the new blood might be a continued effort of RBNY’s to expand their global scouting – something that might be more apparent when you consider the fact Jørgensen could have been considered for the two European Red Bull sides but was brought to the states instead.
A young player such as Mathias has a great chance to grow and develop in both MLS and even USL thanks to this multi-year deal. It isn’t abnormal to see young players loaned to Red Bulls II no matter how skillful they might seem, so I wouldn’t take it as anything but a stepping stone if this was to happen in the early months of the 2019 season. On the other hand, the first team might convert his ability to sweep past defenders and turn him into a winger – further developing his set up ability on the first team.
The Red Bulls first competitive game of 2019 will be against Atlético Pantoja in the CONCACAF Champions League on February 20 in the Dominican Republic. It may be a time for some younger talent to get a jump on the season, but time will tell how the roster shakes out.
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