Earlier this week Bristol City secured the signing of Niclas Eliasson from IFK Norrkoping.
The winger has joined City for an undisclosed fee, which could be pushing on for £2m, signing a three year deal at Ashton Gate.
Eliasson, 21, came to the attention of City, who have the option of an extra 12 months, when based on statistical analysis at first but the more the Robins saw of him the more Lee Johnson liked him.
As such the City boss didn’t think this deal could be refused and he’s excited to see how the Swedish U21 international, facing plenty of competition at Ashton Gate, takes to the Championship.
‘It`s a really interesting deal given the way myself and our recruitment team found Niclas. It all began very statistically-based and then the more we saw of him play, the more we liked what we were seeing. We just couldn`t turn down this opportunity to sign a player who we think can be very special in the Championship and, moving forward, into the future,’ Johnson told the Official Website.
Adding: ‘It will be interesting to see how his performances transcend from the Allsvenskan into the Championship. He`s got an outstanding crossing ability; he`s very quick and very sharp. I`m excited to have him on board now and I`m sure he`ll blend in with the rest of our squad. We`ve got stiff competition for places now in the wide areas, which this club demands.’
Meanwhile, Gustav Engvall, a teammate of Eliasson’s in the Sweden squad at the U21 European Championship in Poland this summer, is to return to his homeland.
Having enjoyed a successful loan art Djurgarden, returning for pre-season, the forward, hopeful of his chance in City’s first team this season, was left out of the League Cup win on Tuesday as he is set to return to the same club for the remainder of the Swedish Allsvenskan campaign.
Assistant head coach Jamie McAllister told Official Website: ‘Gustav is close to going back to Djurgarden on loan. We didn`t play him tonight because we didn`t want to risk an injury with that deal on the cards. Gustav is still only young and did fantastically well in the first half of the season for Djurgarden. Now he`ll want to produce similar quality for the remaining games of the campaign.’
