The Shortlist: Orri Óskarsson

A rangy, meta centre-forward for your shortlists.

This is The Shortlist — the quick, digestible way to get to know football’s hottest property, as told by the scouts who’ve watched them.

Jake Entwistle is SCOUTED’s newest team-member, but he’s been working behind-the-scenes with us for years, quietly searching for the next big thing. He spent eight years leading Squawka’s social efforts.

Editor’s Note: This Shortlist piece was produced just before Óskarsson sealed a milestone move to Real Sociedad on transfer deadline day. Because we have such big brains, we talked at length about those links anyway. As you were.

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SCOUTED: Jake, welcome to The Shortlist! For your first appearance you’ve chosen to highlight an Icelandic forward. Why are you adding Orri Óskarsson to our collection?

JAKE ENTWISTLE: Well the first reason is we’re actually talking on his birthday. He’s just turned twenty, today.

Well, that’s very exciting.

Yeah. Essentially, I first stumbled across him when I putting together a list of potential Tottenham Hotspur targets - ‘Strikers to Save Angeball’ - for Squawka. I collated a list of attributes I thought they needed in a number nine, and alongside all the usual candidates, up popped Óskarsson.

He was playing in the Danish Super League, but his output still perfectly fit the modern ‘meta’ that’s developing among strikers. He seemed like a strong generalist, someone who could hold up the ball, was quick enough to run channels, technical enough to combine with teammates, and ruthless enough to finish chances.