Former Arsenal Young Gun Havard Nordtveit's 2nd Chance at Gladbach

Once a promising Arsenal up-and-comer, Havard Nordtveit is still seeking recognition at Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach, and will be afforded a second chance.

Prior to Stromsgodset's 15-year-old Martin Odegaard prancing past Tippeligaen defenders, Nordtveit was a 16-year-old centre-back with world-class upside at Haugesund in 2006.

Instead of Arsenal, Nordtveit was slated to join Manchester United, a club with a connection to Norway. 

A decade earlier in a pre-social media era, United signed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from Molde after his Dennis Viollet-like strike rate in the Tippeligaen.

"When I saw him [Solskaer] for the first time, I honestly thought he'd just signed as an apprentice," United legend Ryan Giggs said, per his autobiography. "Nobody had ever heard of him."

Post-Solskjaer, then-United manager Sir Alex Ferguson continued monitoring talents in the Tippeligaen, hence the signings of Erik Nevland from Viking in 1997 and Magnus Wolff Eikrem from Molde in 2006.

Nordtveit had trained at United, per Christian Chatelet at UEFA's official website, but Haugesund turned down a €126,717/£100,000 bid from United.

PETER DEJONG/Associated Press

This opened the door for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who travelled to Haugesund, a city with a minuscule population of around 35,000, to personally scout Nordtveit.

"It was very important to see that Wenger came to Haugesund to see me," Nordtveit said, per Arsenal TV (h/t TubeChop via YouTube). "That was big for us in Norway and for me."

Haugesund rebuffing United's offer for Nordtveit proved to be an astute business ploy.

"Arsenal agreed a €2.5/£2 million deal for 16-year-old Norwegian defender Havard Nordtveit," on June 16, 2007, per Richard Bright at The Telegraph. "The FK Haugesund centre-back was also thought to be interesting Manchester United, Bordeaux and Ajax."

Nordtveit was Wenger's alternative to 17-year-old Czech Ondrej Mazuch, who was an Arsenal transfer target.

However, Mazuch's club Brno had agreed a €1.5/£1 million fee with Bayer Leverkusen, only to renegade on the deal to sell him to Fiorentina for €2.8/£2.2 million.

Real Madrid spent €800,000/£631,327 on Hertha Berlin's German 18-year-old Christopher Schorch, whose teammate Jerome Boateng, also German and 18 years of age, made a €1.1 million/£868,075 transfer to Hamburg.

Rather than pursue Mazuch, Schorch or Boateng, Wenger invested in Nordtveit, who had impressed Arsenal management with his intangibles.

"What I liked in this boy [Nordtveit] is his intelligence and his mental strength," Wenger said, per Richard Clarke at Arsenal's official website. "I have rarely seen a boy of his age so mature."

Two months and 19 days after being signed, Nordtveit captained the Arsenal reserve team.

"It was a real honour to be captain," Nordtveit said, per Adam Clark at Arsenal's official website. "I know now I must work to keep the captaincy."

Nordtveit spent the next three years loaned out to Salamanca, Lillestrom and Nurnberg, which exposed him to the harsh realities of football. 

"I remember after one away game when we [Lillestrom] hadn't played well, our travelling fans stood in front of the bus," Nordtveit said, per Arsenal's official website. "We had to go out and explain what had happened."

Having played at right-back, centre-back and central midfield, Nordtveit wanted to be the Norwegian Steve Bould. 

But Nordtveit was an early bloomer like Mazuch and Schorch.   

Wenger accepted that Nordtveit had not made noticeable gains, a la Boateng.

"He [Nordtveit] was not even practising every day with the first team," Wenger said, per Chris Harris at Arsenal's official website. "Yes [I had high hopes for him], but we have a number of centre-backs and full-backs, so he didn't get the games. It was the right moment for him to go and play [for Gladbach]."

Credit: instagram.com/nordtveit.

Nordtveit once said his playing style was like "kind of a spare, balancing player."

That is not how you would describe Christoph Kramer or Granit Xhaka, two integral central midfielders, who have turned Lucien Favre's Gladbach team into Bundesliga contenders.

• Kramer: Complete midfielder who functions as a midfield destroyer, a creative outlet and can take the ball past opposing players. 
• Xhaka: Midfield general who controls proceedings for Gladbach.

Converted into a full-time No. 6, Nordtveit's time at Gladbach is alike to Denilson Pereira at Arsenal: Conservative, diligent, safe, but expendable. 

Season	Rating	Rank
2013-14	3.96	185
2012-13	3.69	132
2011-12	3.54	101
2010-11	3.69	133

When Nordtveit was at Arsenal, an ankle injury denied him a start against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup.

Watching Xhaka hobble off the field due to a ligament tear in his right ankle, has created a path to being a starter again for Nordtveit. 

"I can continue to improve here [at Gladbach]," Nordtveit said, per FIFA's official website. "I've got everything I need for my development."

That is what 18-year-old German youth international midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud is telling himself.

He could accomplish at Gladbach what Nordtveit failed to do at Arsenal: Become a first-team starter.

Amid the competition to replace Xhaka, Nordtveit will need to call on his "intelligence and his mental strength," attributes highlighted by Wenger, to capitalise on the second chance to become a regular Gladbach starter again. 

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[1] Kicker rate footballers on a scale of one to six; one being world class, six being 2. Bundesliga standard. The lower the rating, the better.