Introducing Matias Siltanen, the midfielder walking the Bergvall path
Lucas set the route - here's who comes next
You know the story. Lucas Bergvall broke through as a 15-year-old at IF Brommapojkarna, his boyhood club and one of the biggest academies in Europe. He became a breakout performer at Stockholm giants Djurgården and left for a club-record fee. He is now a dominant force at Tottenham Hotspur, a Europa League winner, and one of Europe’s most exciting midfield talents.
You know the story, perhaps, because you read it here. My long-form breakdown of Bergvall from 2024 - published less than a month before Spurs introduced him to the mainstream with a transfer bid - was among our most popular stories that year. We knew Bergvall would be big; we didn’t necessarily expect it to happen so quickly. Let me tempt fate by trying the trick again.
Llew Davies is a writer, analyst and the ‘Michael Burry of scouting’ (Joe's words, not his). SCOUT NOTES, his 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, Rǒmulo, and many more.
When Djurgården sold Bergvall to Spurs last summer, they made a significant profit. The €900,000 they’d paid BP for him turned into a reported €12 million sale, not including add-ons and incentives - the biggest fee ever received by an Allsvenskan club. Djurgården reinvested that money the following winter by signing a 17-year-old from Finland for another club record, of about €1.2 million.
The Bergvall profit was spent on a Finnish midfielder called Matias Siltanen.
Like Bergvall, Siltanen had been a senior regular for a while before Djurgården came calling. He had played over 3,300 minutes for top-flight KuPS and over 2,200 more for their B team, who compete against senior sides in the lower leagues. That much experience so young is rare, and it duly attracted interest from all over Europe - but he entrusted his development with Djurgården.
So far, that decision has proven astute. While European regulars Djurgården may not be competing to their usual standards - they sit 10th in the table after 15 games - Siltanen has established himself as an important player. He’s started all but one Allsvenskan game and no team-mate has played more minutes. As indicators for future success go, those are pretty good.
Let me introduce you.
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I’ve watched about a couple Matias Siltanen games so far. For the purpose of this introduction, I’ve honed in one a single, encompassing game: a mid-table match against IFK Norrköping last month.
An important caveat to all of this is that Norrköping are...not good. The amount of times I mention “disorganised” throughout this piece is testament, and there was comparatively little pressure applied to Siltanen. The general tempo and intensity was a rung or two below what you would normally expect of the Allsvenskan.
But focus on a single game allows me to be more forensic, and this was still an instructive performance by the 18-year-old. The skills I’ve highlighted can translate to higher intensities and against better opponents, and are indicative of things I’ve seen him do consistently.
Against Norrköping, Siltanen was the deepest midfielder in Djurgården’s 4-2-3-1. He was deepest on both sides of the ball, showing short to help DIF build, anchoring at the base in higher areas, and screening the defence.
He was regularly involved from first minute to last: only his centre-backs played more passes than he did, 58 in total. The game ended 1-1, much to the frustration of DIF, who racked up 64% possession, dominated much of the territory, and cracked off no less than 27 shots.
