KASPER DOLBERG JOINS FROM OGC NICE ON A SEASON-LONG LOAN

Danish international Kasper Dolberg has signed for Sevilla FC from OGC Nice on a season-long loan. 

The 24-year old striker has switched Nice for Sevilla after three years on the French Riviera, and the club have an option to make his move permanent. 

Dolberg came through the ranks at hometown club Silkeborg IF, and made three appearances in the Danish Superliga at the end of the 2014/15 season, aged just 17.

He was spotted by Ajax before those outings, however. In January 2015, four months before his professional debut, the Dutch side reached an agreement with Silkeborg to sign the striker in the summer.

Dolberg burst onto the scene in 2016/17, scoring 23 and assisting 8 in 48 appearances

In his first season in Amsterdam, the Dane played for Ajax's U19 team, scoring five goals in 18 domestic matches and another three in four UEFA Youth League matches. In fact, Sevilla were knocked out of the UYL by Ajax that year, but Dolberg was not in the squad for the tie. 

He was promoted to the first team ahead of the 2016/17 season at the age of 18, and he truly burst onto the scene. He scored on his debut, a UEFA Champions League qualifier against PAOK Salonika, but the team fell in the final qualifier against Rostov and dropped into the UEFA Europa League.

In his thirteen UEL matches, the striker scored six times, including goals in both the first and second legs of the semi-final against Olympique Lyonnais. He also started in the final in Solna, but they were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United.

However, it was in the Eredivisie where he truly shone, scoring sixteen times in just 29 appearances, which gave him a total of 23 goals in 48 matches in all competitions. He also set up another eight goals. In the following season, he added nine goals and two assists to his tally from 30 outings.

The striker has scored ten goals in 35 caps for Denmark

However, Dolberg improved on his numbers in 2018/19, with twelve goals and six assists in 39 matches. That was the season in which Erik ten Hag famously guided Ajax to within seconds of the UCL final, as the team fell to a stoppage-time defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-finals after defeating Real Madrid and Juventus in the knockout rounds.

However, the Dutch side did win the league and cup double that season, which were Dolberg's first honours. He then went onto win the Johan Cruyff Shield, the equivalent of the Spanish Super Cup, in July 2019.

The Dane then decided to move to pastures new, and swapped Amsterdam for the French Riviera when he signed for Ligue 1 side OGC Nice on a five-year deal. He got off to a flying start, with eleven goals and three assists in 23 appearances in his debut season in France. In the last two seasons, he has notched up thirteen goals and four assists in 59 outings.

As for his international record, he made his debut aged 19 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan in November 2016. His first goal came against the same opponents in June 2017. His record currently stands at ten goals in 35 caps, and he featured at both the 2018 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2020, starting in Denmark's defeat against England in the semi-final of the latter.