Scouting Report: Marko Johansson

Marko Johansson has been playing regular football for 4 years now. Still, it feels like he never has had his real breakthrough yet. After years on loan in various Swedish clubs, he has experienced promotion to Allsvenskan, winning it, as well as suffering relegation. Mixing top performances with some less impressive actions, Marko’s last four years have been something of a rollercoaster. Still, during the second part of last season, after a serious injury on Johan Dahlin, Johansson established himself as the starting goalkeeper for Malmö FF.

He will fight to keep that spot in the upcoming season, and after years of surrounding transfer rumours to bigger clubs, he will also not just be hoping to convince manager Jon Dahl Tomasson that he can live up to his long dubbed potential. Even though Marko is still just 22 years old, some might say they would have expected him even higher up in the footballing hierarchy by this time. So, considering the circumstances, you could say that it might be now or never for the Malmö-born talent.

For several years, Johansson has been the talk of the town in Malmö. Ever since his debut as a 16-year-old under Åge Hareide in Malmö's Champions League qualifier against FK Žalgiris Vilnius in 2015, Johansson has been seen as one of the brightest prospects in the Swedish goalkeeping line. During the circumstances of his debut, Malmö FF had gone to Lithuania without their long-trusted first goalkeeper Robin Olsen.

The now Everton #2 had after a couple of impressive seasons just left the club for Danish giants FC Copenhagen. In the weeks that unfolded had the reserve keeper Zlatan Azinović been fielded in between the Sky Blues’s sticks, but on the bench had a lanky teenager been waiting to prove his worth. After 4 games without any game time, Johansson would get his chance 50 minutes into the game at LFF Stadium.