Introducing Lucas Høgsberg
A play-by-play breakdown of a progressive defender exploding from FC Nordsjælland
Superligaen is back! That means plenty of things, but two in particular: we get to watch Noah Nartey play football again, and you get to familiarise yourself with the latest prospects to emerge from the ever-excellent FC Nordsjælland pipeline.
If you’re unfamiliar with FC Nordsjælland themselves, here’s the gist: they are a top-flight Danish club owned by a multi-continental youth academy. Yes, you read that correctly – the academy owns the football club, a unique dynamic befitting a special model.
Since its establishment in a remote region of Ghana in 1999, the Right to Dream Academy has grown into a global operation that includes three professional clubs across three different continents. Cairo-based FC Masar - a women’s team who won their Egyptian league title in 2024 - and San Diego FC, an expansion MLS franchise, are its two most recent additions, but FC Nordsjælland has been the gateway to Europe for their west African prospects since RTD bought the club in late 2015.
Llew Davies is a writer, analyst and the ‘Michael Burry of scouting’ (Joe's words, not his). SCOUT NOTES, this weekly newsletter, is a deep and detailed play-by-play breakdown of a player soon to hit the mainstream. Past hits include Lucas Bergvall, Sverre Nypan, Ayyoub Bouaddi, and many more.
Supplementing their African pipeline every step of the way has been their high-performing local academy in Denmark. Tucked inside the leafy town of Farum, it’s churned out impressive prospects year after year, and the Danish youth international squads are packed with FCN products in both the men’s and women’s game. Notable hits include Mikkel Damsgaard, Mathias Jensen, Andreas Skov Olsen, Victor Nelsson and Kathrine Kühl, while the likes of Patrick Dorgu and Conrad Harder are now announcing themselves in senior football, too.
Now, I’ll be introducing another: 19-year-old centre-back Lucas Høgsberg.
The 2024/25 season was Høgsberg’s breakthrough year. He broke into the FCN XI in September and stuck, playing over 2,400 minutes across 31 appearances. His form toward the end of the season meant he was included in the senior Denmark squad – skipping the U-21s entirely, who were competing at the European Championship – and has been the subject of many transfer claims.
If he stays in the first team, this campaign will be his breakout in Danish football – and his importance to a team that play in a very specific, possession-based, elite-coded style could mean he skips the intermediate move and lands at one of the best teams in a Big Five League next summer. Here’s why.
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