Introducing Aston Villa’s new Sporting Director: Johan Lange

Here’s everything you need to know about the Dane, his time with Copenhagen, and how he will conduct his business at #AVFC. https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1288791980445753346

When Lange became director at Copenhagen in 2014 the club were well established as one of the strongest in the country.

The 2014/15 season, however, marked the 3rd 2nd place finish in the space of 4 years as an ageing squad was losing its grasp on top of Danish football.

Lange’s first summer at Copenhagen was the start of a new era. A 19-year-old Daniel Amartey (sold a year later to Leicester for over £5m) signed for £1.6m from Djurgarden, while Zanka joined from PSV for £630k who was signed by Huddersfield just 2 years later for a £2m profit.

Johan Lange was ready to invest heavily into promising young players for the first team and the summer of 2015 saw Kasper Kusk (23), Benjamin Verbic (21), and Federico Santander (24) all join to help FCK to their first title with Lange as director while doubling their money.

A second title in 2016/17 was followed by the departures of several key players as Andreas Cornelius, Ludwig Augustinsson, Verbic, Zanka, and Kusk all left the club. Copenhagen were in no shape to compete for the title but Lange was thinking a year ahead.

While FC Midtjylland did win the 2017/18 title, Copenhagen bought 21-year-olds Robert Skov and Denis Vavro for £900k and £1.25m respectively while Viktor Fischer (23) joined for £2.5m in a youth-based overhaul.

The list of key departures grew in 2018 as Olsen and Santander left for £14 m but Lange’s arrivals were ready. Robert Skov broke the scoring record with 30 goals, while Fsicher picked up 10 assists and Vavro’s defensive performances lead Copenhagen to Lange's third title.

Last year Vavro and Skov left for £9 million each and were replaced by Victor Nelsson – FC Nordsjaelland’s 20-year-old captain and Pep Biel (22) from Zaragoza. A disappointing season ended up with Copenghagen in 2nd place as Lange’s time in Copenhagen came to an end.

Lange’s strategy at Copenhagen was fairly obvious – to heavily invest into young players from lower down in Denmark for the first team, while chances were given to promising academy talents such as Jonas Wind and Mo Daramy.

Do not underestimate the difficulty of recuiting top young players year-on-year as the first team's top players would leave while Copenhagen stayed on top. Johan's experience in the right markets can only be a positive.

I anticipate Lange will look to recruit similarly at Villa – looking at the Championship’s most promising talents to bring into the first team as well as a few signings from on the continent too. Lange was always very aggressive in the market to be the first to the talent, too.

Lange’s philosophy certainly matches the board’s want for growth and use of the academy, recruitment of younger players, and to become a real powerhouse in the transfer window and the Dane has already proved he can do it.

For me, that appointment couldn't have been much better.

Feel free to read more on Lange here, but as a Danish football fan you can take it from me, Copenhagen have been wizards in the window and, if Aston Villa can replicate their success, very exciting times lie ahead. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11931483/fc-copenhagens-transfer-triumphs-johan-lange-explains-their-success

I hope this thread could be of use to some of you wanting to learn more on our new Sporting Director and I look forward to covering any transfer rumours that pop up over the window! Thank you all for reading. #AVFC