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Kolbeinn Sigthórsson is an Icelandic footballer who plays as a forward for the Eredevisie giants Ajax.
Profile
Sigthórsson started his professional footballing career from Icelandic side Vikingur before making a switch to HK Kopavagur. He already attracted the interests from big clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal but owing to limited opportunities at these clubs in terms of playing time, he made a switch to the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
Trending
It didn’t take much time for him to establish himself at the club. He caught the headlines following an emphatic display against VVV Venlo in an Eredivisie game where he completely dismantled the opposition by registering his name on the scoring sheets 5 times. Soon speculations started about his possible move to some bigger club in the coming summer transfer window.
In the transfer window of 2011, he was being linked to a host of clubs but eventually he made a switch to the Dutch giants Ajax for a reported fee of around 4.5 mn Euros. His stay at Ajax has been crippled with long injuries but whenever he played, he returned the faith being showed on him with goals. As a strong target man, he has given a different dimension to the playing style of Ajax.
At the international scenario he has represented Iceland and has formed a strong partnership with Alfred Finbogasson (another player who has been in lethal scoring form in Eredivisie) and has scored 13 goals in 19 games and played a very crucial part in the team’s journey to the play-offs where they will be up against a strong Croatian side.
Style, Strength and Weakness
He likes to play short passes and make runs into the box to find himself in good scoring areas. With his good aerial ability, he is often seen being used as a target man in advanced positions.
His main strength lies in his physically imposing stature inside the six yard box with amazing aerial ability that has seen him scoring a number of headed goals. He has good shooting abilities as well. Further, with his good amount of work rate, he does contribute to defence as well by tracking back and by providing a shield to deal with set pieces.
His main weakness includes his holding off the ball and that has seen him losing the ball quite often. Further, he is injury prone and this has seen him being sidelined for longer spells.
Stats
Sigthórsson has started brightly during the 2013-14 season by scoring 6 goals in ten Eredivisie games. In the previous season also he scored 7 goals in 11 games. He is a decent passer, and since most of his presence is in the opponent’s half, a pass completion rate of 74% is treated as good.
In the international scenario, he scored 4 goals for the national side in 5 games in World Cup qualifiers and thus, a very important contributor in his team’s run to the playoffs for a ticket to Brasil 2014.
Transfer Situation
Currently valued at 4.5 mn euros, Arsenal made a last ditch attempt to sign him away from Ajax as a back up for a similar player, Oliver Giroud. Prior to that he was also linked to a move to Bundesliga giants Borusia Dortmund but he preferred to stay at the Dutch giants to see more first team appearances.
