Daniel Bäckström has confirmed Fulham‘s Jonah Kusi-Asare missed Sweden U21’s 2-0 win over North Macedonia U21s on Monday because he missed the flight.
Bäckström was in charge since November 2022 and managed his last match for Sweden U21 earlier this week.
The outgoing manager had initially included the Fulham player on his list for two U21 European qualifiers during the recently concluded international break.
However, the coach left the 19-year-old out of the squad in the 3-0 defeat to Poland U21 on September 30th.
The plan was to utilise him on Monday, but the striker didn’t make it to the squad, this time for a non-sporting reason.
Replacement called up for Fulham man
Daniel Bäckström was without Strasbourg’s Genesis Antwi, who is on loan from Chelsea, and Jonah Kusi-Asare for the latest clash.
After his last match, the manager gave an interview to Fotbollskanalen. He confirmed the Blues owned player missed the fixture because of illness.
Prior to the clash against North Macedonia U21, there was no communication from the national team about the Fulham frontman.
When asked about Kusi-Asare’s absence, he said: “We travelled down on Sunday and Jonah wasn’t on the flight because he missed it. That’s when I made the decision to call Sixten Gustafsson up instead so that we could start from the start.”
No action against Fulham summer signing
The English club had initially signed the Swede on loan from Bayern Munich in September 2025. He failed to score or assist from 122 minutes from 10 matches under Marco Silva. However, that didn’t stop Álvaro Arbeloa’s side from buying him in the summer window.
Jonah Kusi-Asare had several options in England, but he rejected them for Fulham. The decision hasn’t worked out well as he’s yet to feature for the Premier League side this season. The frontman missing the flight with Sweden U21 may not please Arbeloa.
The outgoing manager was pressed whether Sixten Gustafsson’s call-up a punishment for Kusi-Asare. The outlet also wants to know what happens when a player misses a flight.
“No, it’s not about punishment. But I told Jonah that I’ve decided to do things differently,” Daniel Bäckström explained.
“He was selected from the start, but when things turned out the way they did, it worked out better for me and my plans to call in a replacement. Sixten was ready, and there’s not really much more to say about it.”
