Erik Andersson had an opportunity to join Newcastle United and Manchester City earlier in his career.
The midfielder is a product of Landskrona BoIS’ youth system and spent two years with their first team before joining Malmö FF in 2014.
Fotbollskanalen claim he was courted by clubs from the top five leagues when he was at the Swedish club academy. This includes Manchester City, Newcastle and Juventus, and he underwent trials with the Magpies and the Serie A side.
For Fotbollskanalen’s podcast, Lundh, the 27-year-old has reviewed his career so far. This is when he discussed his experience of having trials at Newcastle, Juve and other clubs.
“It was an experience that was absolutely amazing. To be able to go to these clubs and see how they work with the youth teams, how they work with players individually, and what conditions they have versus what we had when I grew up. I know it’s a bit better here now, but there’s no comparison,” he said.
“It was never very close, really. I got an offer from Juventus and then I got an offer from City. But I was never there,” Andersson explained.
When discussing Manchester City in detail, the midfielder explained Newcastle had walked away from a potential deal.
“Manchester City, yes. Nothing ever came of Newcastle, but I had offers from City and Juventus. But then it was still that I talked to Landskrona, and they talked about me being up in the A squad and said I would get first team minutes. So, then I valued it higher than I valued moving abroad and playing in an U17 or U19,” he added.
A move to Manchester City or Juve would have been financially better for the Swede. He was confident that clubs of such stature would come for him in the future but that never happened.
When asked if he regrets his decision now, Andersson said: “Yes, it would have been better. I wouldn’t say I have any regrets. But it is clear that I have thought “what could have been if I had moved?” or “how could it have gone?” a few times.”
“It was more before, actually. I can’t do anything about it, I can’t change the choices I’ve made. So, there is no point in dwelling on the fact that it could have been different.”
