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The Swedish contingent at Leeds United may get cut in half as it appears that as many as five Swedish teams are looking into bringing Marcus Antonsson back home to Sweden after a failing to make an impact in his time at Leeds.
Antonsson came to Leeds in the summer of 2016 from Kalmar in Sweden, and was tipped to be a striking option for the Whites, but only managed to appear in 16 league games for Leeds, with only six starts. He did score two goals in the League Cup, including one in the victory over Norwich City, he did not take the pitch after 2 January 2017 and failed to even make the bench more than three times in the last 16 games of the season.
After Garry Monk left Leeds for Middlesbrough, Antonsson had a lifeline and a chance to impress a new coaching staff that might use a different formation, but it appears that his time at Leeds might come to an end after Leeds brought in Chievo Verona striker Caleb Ekuban and a pair of attacking wingers in Samu Saiz and Gianni Alioski. New Head Coach Thomas Christiansen has also used a 4-2-3-1 formation in preseason so far, and it’s not hard to imagine that Antonsson would find it difficult to make it onto the bench once the season begins, never mind the pitch.
Malmo and AIK are both interested in Antonsson. Antonsson is waiting to hear his role before deciding. #lufc https://t.co/tdvQt99Zoy
— Daryl (@Dazelar29) July 22, 2017
Word from Sweden’s www.fotbolldirekt.com is that the Swede is being tracked by no fewer than five different teams, with Malmo FF, AIK, IFK Norrköping, Hammarby, and IFK Göteborg all rumored to be interested in the striker. He had a very decent goal-scoring record in Sweden, as he had scored 10 goals in 12 matches for Kalmar in 2016 before transferring to England to join Leeds United.
It’s not surprising to see a few players being linked with exits after all of the players that have been brought in, and with a the addition of Ekuban, both Antonsson and Erwin had to know their time with United was likely coming to an end. If Antonsson does move on, good luck to him. And if he does move to Malmo FF, well, then here’s hoping he helps Pontus Jansson’s boyhood club move up the Swedish table.