Häcken’s golden eleven intact – and no new signings: ‘A discreet window’

Several Allsvenskan teams have already wrapped up their holidays and started moving towards the approaching racing season. On Monday it was defending champion BK Häcken’s turn to train for the first time. But there weren’t many new faces.

Apart from newly promoted juniors Sebastian Banozic, Pontus Dahbo and Filip Trpcevski, Hising’s team has yet to introduce any new outside signings. Also, it’s only Erik Friberg who left (dropped out of) the team that won the club’s first SM gold last fall.

– It’s wonderful! I’m very happy, says sporting director Martin Ericsson of the intact team.

Do you think it will stay like this?

– We’ll have to see, but it looks quite promising.

Recently, Tobias Heintz, 24, who was on loan at Norway’s Sarpsborg for the whole of last year, was transferred to Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia. But there have also been offers for more players, Ericsson says.

– Both. It’s clear there’s been interest and some offers, but overall we’re seeing a pretty decent window so far. We’ll see, but the idea from the beginning was to keep as many as possible. If we all keep, I won’t tell. But the idea is that we should have as intact a team as possible.

Why do you think it was a low profile window?
– In places it seems to be booming, but in general it is an overall recession. Since then, there has been a World Cup to decide. You’ll probably have to wait all month before you know what the window will look like.

Alexander Jeremejeff was there and trained as usual, despite being surrounded by rumors of a move over the winter. Martin Ericsson was clear earlier that the top scorer must be replaced if he leaves, but he revealed at the same time that no offers had been received for the striker.

– We don’t expect to do great things. There are probably some players out and some in. We sit as intact as possible. So let’s assess the number of players at the start of the European Games before this summer’s window opens.

Are you knowingly financially defensive now given the investments you made last year?
– Yes… We had a couple of windows where we traded and bought a lot of players. It’s also now one of the few times you can get continuity. It doesn’t seem like a saturated team to me, but there is a very strong push both in the management staff and in the squad. So hopefully you start at a higher level than if you’ve switched a lot of players.

Despite the low-intensity transfer window so far, Häcken fans can look forward to a new signing or two before Allsvenskan kicks off.

– There will certainly be some new acquisitions. Like I said, if we can keep the team as intact as possible, it feels good, but there’s definitely going to be something inside and something outside under the window.

Are you looking for a particular position?
– It happens all the time, see how competitive you are when matches start. What happens on the injury front and if you stay healthy. But, no general position, says the sporting director.