Manchester United’s interest in Patrick Dorgu highlights how quickly the young Denmark international has progressed. He only made his debut in senior football last year but the Lecce left-back is already keen to take the next step in his career.
Lecce themselves, clinging determinedly to their Serie A status for a third season in a row, identified Dorgu in FC Nordsjaelland’s famed academy before he had even broken through. There too, at FCN, there is pride and satisfaction at the player’s development.
“Our good scouting spotted him quite fast,” Alexander Riget, their technical director, tells Sky Sports. It required Riget and the current Norwich City head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup to make the trip to Jutland to see him. “It is a five-hour drive from here.”
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Sky Sports News’ Melissa Reddy on whether Dorgu could move to Man Utd
They saw something in Dorgu, just 12 years old at the time. He played “one year up” in their U13 team but was not a standout star. “He was always a good player but he developed very well a little later, at the age of 16 or 17.” Before long, he was gone.
“His journey is a little different from many of our other players. Normally, they play 50 to 100 games and then leave for a bigger club.” Is that frustrating? “No, we were still a very important part of his journey. We are very happy about his situation at the moment.”
It was tricky. Martin Frese, now also in Serie A with Verona, suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury that resulted in him staying at Nordsjaelland longer than anticipated. Daniel Svensson, a 22-year-old Sweden international, remains with the club now.
“The pipeline in that position was a little longer than usual so I think for Patrick the step that he took was the right one. Most of our players will come through the first team but the reason we exist is talent development. If they take another path, we are still proud.”
Riget speaks warmly of Dorgu’s family. His two brothers play, one of them is at Genoa and the other is a goalkeeper in Denmark’s lower leagues. His sister plays handball. Their Nigerian-born parents have supported them all the way, encouraging their education.
That is imperative at Nordsjaelland, where huge emphasis is placed on schooling and character development. “It means a lot to us.” Talent is the primary reason other clubs look to Nordsjaelland for players, but the mentality of their graduates is significant too.
“I think him and his family have been the main reason for where he is now, but with our programme we can say that we facilitated Patrick’s development. We give them a very strong football education but a big part of it is educating players away from the pitch.
‘Always focused’
“Patrick is definitely coachable. He is a very good listener. He is not a guy who speaks a lot. He is quite silent and you have to be a little patient when you are asking questions because he is a thinker, so he needs to get started before he is going to say something.
“But he is a very determined player. He has always focused on being better. A real football player. You know how it is nowadays with younger players, they also have other interests, watching things on their iPad, playing FIFA, doing other things, social media.
“Patrick? Go back and look at his social media for these kind of things. There is not a lot. He just played football with his brothers. Every time we were out there for a training session, after it was over, I could not get him off the pitch. He just wanted to play.
“Another thing that says a lot about him is that I cannot remember him ever being injured since he started with Nordsjaelland. That is seven years in a row, which is very unusual. Of course, I think that also says something about how he treats his body.”
That physicality has become an important aspect of Dorgu’s game when asked to get up and down the flank at Lecce. “He gets in the box, arrives for crosses, and that is linked to his physical capacity, which has definitely developed in recent years,” says Riget.
“But he has always been a good runner. He can cover a lot of distance and do it with high intensity. When he played for Nordsjaelland, we got the reports from the trackers and he was often one of those with the best and the highest physical numbers.”
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The Transfer Talk panel discuss if Dorgu could fit into Ruben Amorim’s system
‘Very flexible’
It helps to explain why Manchester United might have earmarked him for that specialist wing-back role. “He can play a lot of positions but we always had an idea that he would become a full-back or a wing-back. He is a good fit for that position,” explains Riget.
“But I do think he is a player who can cover a lot of positions. When he was a young player, I had a game where he played as a striker, he played as a midfielder, as a left winger and as a full-back. So he is very flexible. That fits well with modern football.”
Character, robustness, physicality and flexibility. But can he play? Absolutely. Dorgu can beat an opponent by bursting towards the byline or even cut inside and fire off a shot when playing from the right. There is a belief that he can handle the next step up.
“With his technical level in small areas, I think it is very difficult to put him under pressure because he is very calm on the ball and very good in tight spaces. He is good at dribbling as well. Moving the ball away from the opponent’s feet is a trademark for him.”
Lecce left-back Dorgu has had more touches in the box than any other Serie A defender
‘A good team-mate’
At Nordsjaelland, they still have a vested interest in his progress. A sell-on clause is in place. “We made an agreement with Lecce when he moved. Of course, we are curious how it will go with him.” But not just because of the money. “Because he is one of our own.”
Riget adds: “Since he moved to Italy, he has been back to the club many times. He is still a very good team-mate to many of his friends in the 2004 age group. I see him at our facility, watching training from the window. He wants to spend time with his old friends.
“We try to support him and our door is always open. He will always be a part of our club. Maybe he will return to Nordsjaelland after he has been abroad for many years. But with the amount of money we are talking about here, it will not be for a long time.”
Dorgu has been praised for his physicality, flexibility and robustness
The adventure for Dorgu is just beginning, his two seasons in Serie A just the start for the boy spotted in Jutland eight years ago. For the man who took that road trip, there is no reason to think that the development in Dorgu’s game is likely to stop any time soon.
“Look at his development at Lecce and Nordsjaelland before that. I think it is that character that we talked about, the way that he is, how strong he is from a psychological perspective, not getting dragged in different directions, always being focused.
“I think if you see what he has been capable of during the last couple of years, I think it would be wrong to say that he cannot make it further because I think his progression has been very impressive. I think he will become a top professional at the highest level.”
