David Kjaer Kruse is ready for Blåvitt.
The Danish U21 national team midfielder has signed a multi-year contract and joins from French side Valenciennes.
– I am incredibly happy to belong to IFK Göteborg, he says himself.
He was brought up in the Danish AC Horsens academy, the club he belonged to all the way until he moved on to French Valenciennes in Ligue 2 last summer. In France, David immediately took a regular place, and was noted for a total of 24 matches.
Now games await in the blue and white jersey for 22-year-old David Kruse, who has signed a 4.5-year contract.
– I am at a stage in my career where I have had to weigh important factors before my next club choice. After my conversations with Ola Larsson and the coaches, I quickly understood that there is a clear and distinct path that you want to take here. All in all, with the size of the club, the supporters, the city and the conditions that exist here, I am convinced that IFK Göteborg is the right choice, says David Kruse.
Stefan Billborn, head coach in Blåvitt, about the signing:
– In David, we see a ball-safe midfielder who will give us an extra dimension in the build-up phase, but who also has defensive qualities that we see will fit in very well with the style of play we strive for.
When Valenciennes were relegated from Ligue 2, David Kruse wanted to progress to a level that would make him still eligible for national team play.
– We feel that we are making a real difference here. David had a long contract with Valenciennes and they wanted him to stay but we get and take the chance here on a player we have liked for a long time. David Kruse is a player that we at the club have followed since his time in Horsens, but it never became concrete last season because we understood early on that his next move would be to France then, says Ola Larsson, technical director of IFK Gothenburg and continues:
– It is a Danish U21 national team player who is coming to us. And all of us who follow how things are going in the qualifiers for the U21 EC see that Denmark is well placed to qualify for next year’s championship in Slovakia. Now you shouldn’t jinx anything, but David undeniably looks like he could be one of the players who is there.
David does his first training session on Saturday and he will then join a team where there are four compatriots.
– Thomas Santos and I have been teammates before so it will be a nice reunion. Of course, I have a good grasp of other Danes. It will be fun to meet them, everyone else in the team – and my new colleagues at Kamratgården. Then I’m very much looking forward to meeting all the supporters and discovering Gothenburg as a city, he says.
