Aston Villa: Everything you need to know about goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland

Norwegian international Ørjan Nyland is inching closer to Aston Villa Football Club. Could the FC Ingolstadt goalkeeper take over the No. 1 jersey at Villa Park?

When Aston Villa announced squad numbers for the coming season, the No. 1 jersey was curiously left open. Incumbent starter Jed Steer took over No. 12, new signing André Moreira took the No. 23, and Mark Bunn claimed his usual No. 31.

Therefore, no No. 1 kit for the No. 1 starter – at least yet.

Rumors that Norwegian international Ørjan Nyland was close to finalizing a transfer to Aston Villa kept appearing. Suddenly, that open kit number had credence.

So let’s dig into Ørjan Nyland’s background and what might make him appealing to Steve Bruce and goalkeeping coach Gary Walsh as a potential starter. The 27-year old (28 in late September) is a veteran of the Bundesliga and Norwegian league, the Eliteserien. Born in Volda, Norway, Nyland worked his way through Norway’s second division with IL Hødd for three seasons before regional powerhouses Molde came calling.

Nyland spent 2.5 seasons as Molde’s No. 1 keeper as he amassed 84 appearances from 2013-2015. It was there, where Nyland earned the first 14 of his current 27 Norway national team caps. His displays in goal led to a move in Germany and the Bundesliga with Ingolstadt in the summer of 2015.

Nyland’s first two seasons with Ingolstadt were largely spent on the bench with mixed results. His 18 Bundesliga games were spent with a struggling German team on the brink of relegation.

It happened in the spring of 2016 when the club finished 17th out of 18 teams.

However, relegation brought renewed match time to Nyland’s career. In the 2. Bundesliga this past season, Nyland appeared in 30 of Ingolstadt’s 34 league matches, where the club finished in 9th-place. On the international stage, however, Nyland has primarily ceded the No. 1 shirt to 33-year old Rune Jartsein, also a veteran of the Bundesliga. Nyland has two Norway caps in each of the past two calendar years.

Like recent loan acquisition André Moreira, Nyland is on the taller end of the spectrum for goalkeepers. He’s just a shade under 6’4″ with decent reach. Moreover, he’s very agile with strong, shifty feet between the sticks. If he’s brought-in on a multi-year contract, it’s safe to assume the club sees Ørjan Nyland as No. 1 goalkeeper material. At 27, he’s still young enough to improve slightly as he reaches the apex of his abilities in a year or two.

Thankfully, he has many of the attributes that would make him successful in England’s second division. The competition between Nyland, Moreira, Steer, Bunn, and Sarkic will be fierce and at least one of the latter three will be moved before the transfer window closes. Also of note, Nyland shares an agent with current Aston Villa midfielder Birkir Bjarnason.