Community Corner: Can Scandinavia be a landing spot for American players?

Today’s Community Corner centers on a podcast episode that detailed an interesting undertaking by an American investor. On the latest episode of Grant Wahl’s Planet Futbol Podcast, he sat down with Jordan Gardner, an investor in Swansea City and Dundalk of Ireland’s Premier League. In this episode, Gardner detailed his plans to invest in a team somewhere in Denmark in order to provide a landing ground for American players who want to further their development in Europe. The hope is that the team can be successful in growing the games of young United States internationals before selling them onto bigger clubs throughout Europe.

Gardner points to the success of players who have played in Scandinavia, like Jonathan Amon in Denmark and Romain Gall in Sweden. He wants to provide a destination for young American players from 16-19 to come to Europe to get first-team minutes in leagues that have been welcoming for Americans in the past, players that wouldn’t get first-team minutes in MLS because of the influx of foreign signings pushing them further down the depth chart. “[T]he idea that some of these kids could be big fish in a small pond in Scandinavia versus kind of getting lost in the shuffle in, say, Germany, is what is really intriguing to us,” Gardner said to Wahl during the 9-minute interview.

So, today’s Community Corner question: can Scandinavian teams be a place where Americans can develop and grow into world class players? Does Mr. Gardner’s idea resonate or is this something that you think would fall flat? Hit the comments and let us know what you think of this potential venture.