The Rumour Mill

Blues scouts track Forren

09/11/2012 |

Comments (21)

Representatives from Everton were apparently in attendance to watch Molde defender Vegard Forren as the Norwegian side took on Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League Thursday.

While the 24-year-old is aware of interest from England, he insists he is focused on his job at his current club.

"If [the interest] is true then of course it is interesting, but it is not something I am thinking about," Forren told Romerikes Blad.

"I have been able to cope with the step up in the national team and in Europe and I feel I have played well enough to suggest that I am ready for a better league."

His manager at Molde, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, was quick to report, however, that no formal approaches have been made for Forren.

"There is a lot of interest in him, but no offers have arrived and no club has wanted to negotiate with us," Solskjaer said.

Forren is regarded as the best defender in the Norwegian League, and could go for £4 to £5m pounds.

Additional reporting by Gaute Lie

Original Source: Sky Sports Rumour source ranking:
1 = Poor; 2 = Fair; 3 = Good; 4 = Very Good; Empty (grey) = Unranked

Reader Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Peter Bradshaw
889 Posted 10/11/2012 at 04:01:26

Think we should be looking at someone like Shawcross from Stoke.

Jon Ferguson
899 Posted 10/11/2012 at 08:56:08

Does anyone know anything about this one? What type of player? Tall? Fast? Ball playing?

Peter, Shawcross would be about £10 mil now. Slightly out of our financial league unfortunately.

Mike Allison
900 Posted 10/11/2012 at 09:04:36

Yeah we should give local lads a chance, not all these Forren players.

Boom boom.

On a more serious note, Distin will need replacing soon, and I have no idea if Duffy is good enough. Some posters have remarked that his passing is really not up to scratch for a modern defender. Shawcross would probably cost around£10M, and so isn't a realistic target in my view.

Mike Allison
901 Posted 10/11/2012 at 09:07:11

Jon I swear your post wasn't there when I wrote mine!

Peter Thistle
905 Posted 10/11/2012 at 09:27:40

If he's a right back we should be interested. The day Moyes signs a new right back I will eat my hat...

Vijay Nair
908 Posted 10/11/2012 at 09:47:39

According to his Wiki profile, he's a central defender.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegard_Forren

Ian Bennett
909 Posted 10/11/2012 at 09:43:19

He's meant to be scouting 2 right backs in England. The tall right back at Barnsley john stones and another from Leeds Sam Byram. If we sign both, do you get to eat 2 hats? Best get a large glass of water.

Jon Beck
910 Posted 10/11/2012 at 09:48:19

Would that be the third hat you've eaten after the ones you ate when Neville and Coleman were purchased Peter? I'm sure I've forgotten one............

Phil Skelton
923 Posted 10/11/2012 at 10:47:22

Peter (#889) — I think Man Utd have that already tied up, Shawcross would be good even though he can't pass. Whatever happened to Woodgate... or Upson? They must be cheap.

Bjørn-Ivar Pedersen
926 Posted 10/11/2012 at 10:48:07

Forren is probably one of very few Norwegian players worth looking at.
As far as I know he is a center back / left back.
But the prize tag suggested here is way off.
There is no Norwegian players worth that kind of money.
I think a £ 2 mill. is more right for this one.

Roger Sunde
938 Posted 10/11/2012 at 11:27:38

The representative from Everton was David Weir so I guess he knows what we need at center back, hes a ball playing defender and can play all 3 positions at back as far as I know. I've seen Molde a lot this year and he has definitely improved a lot last couple of years.

Solsjær thinks he's good enough for Man Utd and I think this could be a good signing for us.

Kibby Fahim
942 Posted 10/11/2012 at 12:44:25

I think Mike #900 pointed out, Distin is nearing the end, and Moyes prefers to have a left footed centre back at left centre. So if this guy is left-footed he might be primed to take his spot so would make sense.

Gaute Lie
027 Posted 10/11/2012 at 21:27:21

He plays as a central defender. He's 185 cm (6.1), weighs about 85 kg.

Forren is no a fast player. He's tough, intelligent but lacks speed.

Molde has turned down two bids from FC Brugge for Forren. Tis was in December '11.

I do not believe Molde is willing to sell Forren for less than 4 mill pounds. They are leading the Norwegian series, and is not desperate for money as they have a couple of rich uncles. For real money they will sell him, though.

Peter Thistle
056 Posted 11/11/2012 at 01:10:30

Coleman doesn't count as a right back, he signed more as a wide midfielder :P

Neville doesn't count cos he's, well, Neville.

But yeh, I'll eat two hats if need be. :)

Bobby Mallon
086 Posted 11/11/2012 at 08:39:41

Why is this rumour even relevant when we have an Irish international in Shane Duffy just waiting in the wings? Some people just can't see what good players we already have.

Njål Vigleik Johnsen
094 Posted 11/11/2012 at 09:16:15

He is considered to be a natural replacement for Kjætil Wæhler in the central defence of the norwegian national team. He supplements Brede Hangeland (Fulham) in a good way, as he is a bit mor agger-esque in that he can advance with the ball, poses a goal threat in attack and is very strong in his duel-play.

He is prone to errors though, but could be a good signing.

Andrew Yates
195 Posted 11/11/2012 at 20:22:33

Jon Beck - couldn't have been that little old danish fella Lars Jacobsen?? We need pace at the back, so if this bloke hasn't got any it shouldn't be a consideration.

Njål Vigleik Johnsen
894 Posted 17/11/2012 at 06:02:02

Apparently, Moyes was in attendance at the Hungary-Norway game on Wednesday.

This Forren seems to be a decent fellow, and a good professional in the kind of rural Scandinavian way. I think he would be invited to lunch by Jags.

Njål Vigleik Johnsen
744 Posted 22/11/2012 at 21:18:51

Now he`s watching Molde against FCK in the Europa League.....

Gaute Lie
753 Posted 22/11/2012 at 22:41:33

Seems like the Forren interest is serious. David Moyes and Steve Round were at a match Molde lost 2-1 against FC Copenhagen on Thursday night. Even though Molde lost, Forren had a good match and got great reviews.

Source: vg.no

Jim Harrison
763 Posted 23/11/2012 at 03:37:43

I can't understand why people think we shouldn't sign centre backs. Distin is old. Heitinga looking dodgy. That leaves one quality centre back in Jags and one relatively untried player in Duffy. Yes, we do need a right back, but we currently have 3 players in that position.

Add Your Comments

In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.

» Log in now

Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.