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Viktor Fischer: Ajax wonderkid set for Under-21 action with Denmark

Viktor Fischer Denmark

Before injury problems curtailed his progress, Viktor Fischer was linked with a move to Manchester United or Chelsea. Now the Ajax star is back in Denmark's Under-21 squad for this summer's European Championship and getting his career back on track. Adam Bate examines his progress...

Viktor Fischer is special. Ask his old youth-team boss Per Anderson. “Without comparing Viktor to Messi and Ronaldo, he’s that type of player,” said the former Denmark Under-19 coach. “He can do everything with a ball.”

Ask his head coach at Ajax, Frank de Boer, who describes him as a “huge talent” or Kenneth Perez, an ex-Ajax and Denmark player himself. “He has the capacity to one day be among the best three players in the world,” said Perez. “He has the intelligence and the personality.”

Of course it’s the memory of another former Ajax and Denmark player that is frequently evoked when watching Fischer. When he took the ball past the goalkeeper to score in a 3-0 win over Feyenoord in De Klassieker in 2013, Perez wasn’t alone in viewing it as ‘a Michael Laudrup moment’.

However, a lot has happened since then. The player who had trials at Chelsea, Manchester City and Inter as a young teenager and scored a hat-trick against Liverpool as Ajax crushed the English side in a 6-0 semi-final win in the NextGen Series in 2012, has seen his progress stall.

Image: Injuries have halted Viktor Fischer's progress but he's back playing for Ajax

“I know that I can be a great player, but there are always times when things simply aren't happening,” said Fischer during the 2013/14 season. “It annoys me and I can get very angry with myself about it. You will all see an even better Fischer once I get out of this difficult period, though.”

Even so, the newspapers were still linking him with Manchester United as recently as January 2014. But the following month, things took a turn for the worse. Not a broken leg or cruciate damage, but a series of hamstring-related muscle problems proved problematic. Fischer was out for over a year.

“I have been through hell but I try not to worry about it,” said the now 21-year-old forward upon his return to training in the spring. “I don’t think about it any more. It’s been annoying in many ways but in some ways it has been a positive.

“I have had many different treatments in many different places as well as an operation. It takes its toll and you just hope that when you throw yourself into something, it’s the right step in terms of getting back on the field.”

Denmark's Viktor Fisher (C) vies with Poland's Lukasz Szukala and Artur Jedrzejczyk (R) during the friendly football match Poland vs Denmark in 2013
Image: Viktor Fischer in action for the Denmark senior side against Poland in 2013

Fischer finally returned in April and a dark chapter in his career was closed firmly shut in fairy-tale fashion. He scored twice in a 3-0 win over Cambuur in his first start in front of the Ajax fans in 15 months and netted again in the next game against Dordrecht on the final day of the season. Last week, he netted his first senior goal for Denmark - a late winner from the penalty spot against Montenegro.

“I’m not surprised by it but I can be proud that it’s come so early,” said Fischer of his immediate impact. And the fatalism of a prodigious talent doomed to go unfulfilled has once again given way to optimism. Laudrup, after all, had not even made his Juventus debut let alone weaved his magic for Barcelona when Fischer’s age.

It serves as a reminder that this traumatic time could yet be a minor setback rather than a catastrophe for the player’s career prospects. “I look forward to seeing Viktor next season,” Ajax sporting director Marc Overmars told Voetbal International recently.

I look forward to seeing Viktor next season. Sometimes a player can peak after a serious injury once he has really found his rhythm again.
Marc Overmars on Viktor Fischer

“Sometimes a player can peak after a serious injury once he has really found his rhythm again. After my knee injury, it took four or five months before I was completely on top form again. But by the end of that season I switched to Arsenal, and the first season at Arsenal was the best of my career.”

Already the hype machine is up and running again. Denmark Under-21 coach Jess Thorup has tracked his progress in Ajax's reserves and he wasn’t alone. A training ground lob soon after his return to first-team training went viral, while the links with Liverpool began again even before his comeback game.

Against this backdrop, the words of Fischer himself from 2013 hold true. “I have a lot to learn. I think I'm a wise guy. Only when you're 25 do you show how good you really are.” First though, there is the European Under-21 Championship this summer. And as ever, all eyes will be on Viktor Fischer.

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