The football transfer window has opened in Europe and the Veikkausliiga clubs will also start their European games next week. So there are months ahead, during which many young Finns will have an even better opportunity to move abroad.
Several of the young Finnish players who have already proven themselves in their domestic clubs have gone abroad from the Finnish men’s main league. Several of them are applying for their first transfer abroad.
In addition to the youngest players, there is also a group of players who have already appeared in the national team, who are looking for a new boost in their career after previous transfers abroad still left a toothache.
In this article, Urheilu presents a few Finnish players who are likely to be of interest to foreign clubs, who will enter the upcoming transfer window from different starting points.
Star of the future – Otso Liimatta, AC Oulu
“Moves like glue”, could already be some kind of concept in Northern Ostrobothnia.
Celebrating his 19th birthday next week Take the Glue has charmed the followers of the Finnish premier league for a season and a half. The 169-centimeter forward, who debuted in the Veikkausliiga in May 2021, has made an impression in his first seasons among the men.
Liimatta is a skillful and fast left winger with the ball, who is at his best when advancing with the ball towards the opponent’s defensive line. Tervarien of Oulu grew up daring to challenge in man-on-man situations, passing sharply and serving his teammates tasty goal chances. Scoring is also going well, as he has scored eight league goals in his career so far. Four of them have come this season.
Liimata, who has become the main force of the Finnish under-21 national team, has already received enough interest from abroad. He still knows what things he needs to develop further.
– I’m still quite small, so I still have room to develop in my physique. I have to be tougher in singles so that I can do well in the bigger leagues, Liimatta thinks firmly to .
The skilled person from Oulu can do well with men, but in more challenging environments just being able to do well is not enough.
When Liimata is asked about a possible transfer abroad, he starts to smile.
– Certainly there are some discussions between the clubs, but there is no transfer yet. I don’t know anything about this myself, I just focus on what I’m doing! Laugh without glue.
– Yes, my agent will keep me informed, but there’s no need to rush yet. There is still time here, and it wouldn’t be the end of the world to stay in Oulu, he concludes with a smile.
So what would Liimatta want from his possible transfer?
– Somewhere else I could get into a slightly higher quality training environment, where I would have to challenge myself properly. The club I would like to join must really want me there and help me develop. I want it to invest in me and believe that I can become something big.
Too Finnish – Matti Peltola, HJK
Performing well at the European Games is usually an advantage when a Finn wants to move forward in his career.
HJK’s “Finnish link knife” Matti Peltola was at his best last season when the Helsinki team played in the Europa League against AS Roma, Real Betis and Ludogorets. Unlike the other successful twister in HJK’s midfield in European games Santeri VäänänenPeltola did not leave Helsinki for the winter yet.
However, it is already appropriate to start waiting for the transfer for the 21-year-old Peltola. The midfield and defensive all-rounder, who appeared stylishly twice in the European Championship qualifiers in the Huuhkajat shirt, is starting to be ready for bigger circles.
Even before the start of the season, Peltola’s skills were known. Although he is not an explosive type of player with special features, his high basic performance has been attracting attention for a long time.
– Matti Peltola must be brought up when talking about players who should be followed in the Veikkausliiga. In his twenties, and how mature he was in Belfast (against Northern Ireland). I claim that if Matti Peltola’s name was an international “robinfalk” or something similar, and he didn’t look like an Elovena boy, then he would be talked about even more, narrator Matti Härkönen praised Peltola in Urheilu’s Veikkausliiga podcast, which started the season.
Peltola himself is looking forward to the games in Europe again in the language of water. Next Wednesday, HJK will face Northern Ireland’s champion team Larne FC in the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League.
– These are the highlight of the summer for me. I have told some of my friends that “no problem, I’m looking forward to them starting”. There are even slightly more people in the stands than in the Veikkausliiga games and the stakes are higher. It ignites the player, Peltola describes.
What kind of contribution does Peltola have this time in the game himself, when we look at possible game moves in his career?
– It’s definitely a big screen spot. Probably, those games are watched more than serial games when the level is higher. Yes, it is undoubtedly the kind of place where you want to be at your best and show your best side.
Time for a new company – Lucas Lingman, HJK and Urho Nissilä, KuPS
Sometimes the first move abroad does not guarantee continuity. Several players seen in the Finnish national team have taken a step back to the Veikkausliiga when their careers abroad have not opened up. One example that Finns have been able to follow is Huuhkajie’s all-time goal gun Teemu Pukin a return to the Veikkausliiga and then a rise to the top of the sport.
Such players are represented in Veikkausliiga, for example Lucas Lingman and Urho Nissilä. The skilled duo has already spent time abroad, but things haven’t worked out the way they wanted in the past.
The 25-year-old Lingman moved from HJK to Sweden’s Allsvenskan in January 2022. The beginning in Helsingborgs IF was promising, but the sled turned in a bad direction. Lingman returned to Helsinki and has been on loan at “Klub” since last August.
The gambler, who has recovered from injuries, wants to step back to bigger fields. That’s why the European Games are a particularly important screen place for him.
– Of course they are a big place. I also play here for contracts and stuff. I also want to move forward in my career and how do you know that if you play well again, then whatever it brings. Of course, my situation is such that I want something new for next season, he says.
A continuation in Helsingborg does not seem the most likely if Lingman’s words are interpreted. He still has until December 2025 left on his contract with the Swedish club.
– My own things are quite messed up there. It all pretty much depends on them, but I try not to focus on that. There is a lot left for the season and next year as well, he sighs.
After Lingman has come back to Finland once, it is already the third time for Urho Nissilä, the main force of KuPS, to search for a new pace and return. On each previous occasion, Nissilä has also returned abroad.
Even now, his contract with KuPS is about to expire at the end of July. Before that, however, he will have time to face either Derry City from Northern Ireland or Havnar Bóltfelag from Faroe Islands in the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League in the shirt of the Veikkausliiga league leader.
Before the start of the season, he was also thinking about possibly going to new circles again in July-August. However, the fact that Nissilä mentioned that his goal for the season is to win the championship with KuPS raises hopes for the linen-headed tactician’s stay for Kuopio supporters.