Roger Schmidt concedes to Orcis: “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know he was so good” – Benfica

The coach was vague when responding to the possibility of signing more players such as the Netherlands midfielder

Frederick Ursnes exceeded Roger Schmidt’s expectations. In an interview with the Dutch newspaper ‘Algemeen Dagblad’, the German coach revealed that he had already expected the Norwegian midfielder to see an impact at Benfica, but assumed he did not expect Aursnes to be as good.

“It was a great transfer. He’s a key player in the team. I immediately noticed Aursnes when I was at PSV and we played Feyenoord. But I’ll be honest. I didn’t know he was that good,” he said, before explaining the importance of the number ‘8’ shirt. “I had high expectations, but he has exceeded them. He is one of those players that we consider complete: he is technically polished and physically strong. At Benfica, he developed and moved from a midfielder who controls the midfield to someone capable of playing extreme plays and has even been used on the side,” stressed.

At the time there was talk of possibly signing Kokjo, Feyenoord midfielder Roger Schmidt was a mystery. “Are there more players like Orsnes in Holland? Let’s see,” he said between laughter.

according to the log