Earlier this month, Joel Asoro returned to Sweden when Djurgårdens IF signed him from Swansea City.
The striker first arrived in England when Sunderland signed him for their academy in 2015 and made his first team debut a year later. The Black Cats sold him to Swansea City in 2018 after he’d scored three goals for their senior team.
Asoro struggled at the Welsh club as he failed to find the back of the net in his debut season.
This saw the Swans send him out on loan to for the last 18 months, to FC Groningen and Genoa, before allowing him to return to his own country on a permanent deal.
The new Djurgårdens IF recruit gave a long interview to Fotbollskanalen, where he gave an honest take on why things didn’t work out well for him in the United Kingdom.
“The clubs I have been to have been fantastic. But they did not know how to use him. At Sunderland, they knew how to use me, but at Swansea they did not really know. In terms of play, I did not fit in.”
When pointed out his poor scoring record in England [three goals with Sunderland and no goals for Swansea], the Sweden U21 international explained the reason.
“You can check a lot on statistics and stuff like that, but there are more than 30 matches that I played only five to ten minutes in. You have to check it too,” he stressed.
“You cannot just say: ‘You have started all these matches.’
“I have not done that. I have not played more than ten minutes in half of the matches. It’s hard to do something in ten minutes. I’m not going to blame myself, but that’s it.”
