Alexander Sorloth seems a genuinely nice and humble guy.
It’s not his fault the jump from FC Midtjylland, where he’d only been for a few months, to Crystal Palace was almost certainly too big.
When a young footballer gets that chance, especially when there’s not exactly a lot of other such clubs circling, he can’t be sure it will come around again so for financial and sporting reasons it’s a choice to be made.
In Denmark there was outright shock over what Crystal Palace were paying for the player, and hopes for immediate success weren’t especially high.
Speaking to HLN for their Saturday edition, the Norwegian was asked about his quick exit from Danish football, and explained: “The Premier League was a dream for me, I also played four full matches at once, against Everton, Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea, but then I suffered a hamstring injury, my first ever.
“I wanted to come back soon, but I rushed, making three weeks eventually six weeks. If I look back now, I might want to prove myself too much. I stayed after every training, easy for half an hour to three quarters of an hour to finish off, but in retrospect that was not so clever.”
But Sorloth insists it’s better this way: “Everywhere I come, I have to prove once again that I am strong from the wing. (Laughs) That’s part of the fun. You get more out of me from the wing, because then I’m more dangerous, then I deliver more goals and assists.”
It’s working so far.
On whether there’s any chance of him staying beyond the end of his loan, Sorloth was refreshingly honest: “I can hardly say anything about that, because I have another 3.5 years contract at Crystal Palace. (Laughs) Do you know what the problem is? If I do well, Gent will want to keep me, but then Palace will also return. And if I don’t do well, Gent will not want to keep me, but then Palace won’t want me back either. I better try to do it, then we’ll see what happens.”
Let’s hope he’s in the summer situation of the two clubs tussling for him.
