Who is Lucas Bergvall? New Tottenham signing is a generational talent
Lucas Bergvall is one of those rare precocious talents who has never left anyone in any doubt over his generational ability.
The Premier League has played host to many such prodigies over the years, and looks set to do so again after Bergvall pulled the plug on a Deadline Day move to Barcelona in favour of Tottenham in a deal worth around £8.5million plus add-ons.
Having undergone a medical at Tottenham's training ground and officially completed a move on the day of his 18th birthday, the plan is for Bergvall to remain with Djurgarden - where he is a first-team regular - until the summer before joining up with his new club.
Beating Barca to the signing of Bergvall is a major coup for the north London club, who hosted the Swede at their training ground on Monday to pitch themselves as his best next step, before Barca did the same the following day.
Bergvall has filled in as a striker on occasion for Djurgarden but is more comfortable as a central midfielder. With magnificent footwork in tight spaces despite a reasonably tall 6ft 1in frame, he is in many ways the modern-day technical European midfielder.
In the most recent Swedish league season, which finished in November, Bergvall boasted a pass accuracy of 88.1 per cent. He didn’t shirk his defensive duties either, winning an impressive 71.4% of his tackles.
Tottenham had been tracking Bergvall for a number of months, watching as he defied his age by establishing himself as one of Djurgarden’s most important players after breaking into the first team following a £770,000 move from IF Brommapojkarna in December 2022.
It bodes well for Bergvall that it was Brommapojkarna whose academy he progressed through and where he started his senior career. The lower-league top-flight side are one of Sweden’s most prolific clubs when it comes to producing and nurturing young talent, having been where Anders Limpar, Viktor Gyokeres and soon-to-be team-mate Dejan Kulusevski all started out.
Bergvall was the only 2006-born player in the most recent Allsvenskan season to not only start a game, but also score a goal.
A Swedish international since Under-15 level and, in January, capped at senior level for the first time, Bergvall is very much ahead of the game.
He went on trial at Manchester United aged 14, has also visited both academies of Bayern Munch and Juventus, ignored interest from Eintracht Frankfurt and then turned down Barcelona all before turning 18.
On his return in the summer, Bergvall will embark on the most important part of his development yet as the latest young Spurs star.