Oscar Bobb: Man City's 'Little Wizard' is Norway's next big thing

There will have been a knowing smile from Mikal Aaserud as Oscar Bobb nudged Kevin De Bruyne’s exquisite pass beyond the outstretched leg of a despairing Kieran Trippier and then nestled the ball in the back of Martin Dubravka’s net after the deftest shuffle of feet bamboozled Newcastle’s goalkeeper.

For two joyous years, Aaserud spent most weeks having his breath taken away by Manchester City’s matchwinner at St James’ Park on Saturday night and the latest arresting talent to emerge from Norway after Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard and club team-mate Erling Haaland.

Bobb was just 11 when he joined Lyn’s under-14 team in his home city of Oslo that Aaserud helped to run and, within moments of his first session, it became apparent why there was such excitement around this pint-sized kid with a mesmeric left foot. It was not long before the coaches had coined a nickname for him.

“We called him the Little Wizard because he was a magician,” Aaserud tells Telegraph Sport. “It was a very talented team but he was the real standout player.

“I’d heard rumours about Oscar before he came to us. I knew there was a buzz around this young boy but it was breathtaking at times. Everything he did was incomparable to what others did. We couldn’t believe it.”

Aaserud is not overreaching when he describes that Lyn team as particularly talented. Drawn predominantly from two Oslo schools, Ullevaal and Tasen, with Bobb attending the latter, which enjoyed a close bond. Seven members of the side are now professionals, including winger Sondre Holmlund Orjasaeter, who has just joined Sarpsborg 08 in Norway’s top flight. But Bobb was and remains several cuts above.

Even at such a young age, he was the talk of Norwegian youth circles – and increasingly coveted by many of Europe’s big clubs.

“When we played the national tournaments in Norway we found that people from other teams and their parents came to watch our team just because of him,” Aaserud explains.

“As a coach I’d be standing there on the sideline and could hear people saying things like, ‘Whoa, there’s Oscar Bobb, we have to stay here and watch this game’. He was a phenomenon.”

Aaserud recalls opponents going to all sorts of unsavoury lengths in a bid to negate Bobb’s influence – but the young star routinely faced down the bullies

“In some matches it felt like they were just trying to ruin his game but he didn’t get affected by that. He’s a tough character,” Aaserud recalled. “It didn’t worry him but opponents would try everything – man-marking him, getting physically rough with him to try to put him out of a game. He had some very rough treatment.

“We played up in the league, often against players who were two years older than Oscar and who had hit puberty long before, had beards, that kind of thing and yet he was so small. But the unique thing about him is he never stopped playing his game.

“We would get invited to elite tournaments in Copenhagen, in Madrid and it was exactly the same there as well. Every top club in Europe had him on their radar, that was true from 11, 12.”

‘He values that Erling is there’

One of the interesting aspects about Bobb’s rise is it has not been without its setbacks and complications. In October 2015, he moved to Portugal with his mum, Gunnes Turid, a professional theatre and film actress from Norway, who had signed a deal with a dance and theatre company in the city to work on a number of projects.

Three months later, Porto – whose interest in Bobb had dated as far back as 2010 – applied to sign the player as a minor on the grounds that his mum had moved to Portugal for work reasons rather than to advance her son’s playing career, only for Fifa to subsequently refuse to grant a transfer exemption. Attempts to then join the Hernani Goncalves football school in Porto were also rebuffed by Fifa on the same grounds – and later the Court of Arbitration for Sport on appeal.

It meant Bobb spent almost two years being unable to play in competitive matches, save for the odd tournament appearance for Lyn, for whom he was still registered, before a return to Norway in late 2017 for Lyn’s Oslo rivals, Valerenga. Even at Valerenga, injuries limited his playing time before the move to City at 16 in July 2019.

Aaserud, who now works as a reporter for VG in Norway, thinks the early hype around Bobb combined with the difficult time he had in Portugal are two reasons why he has handled his sudden ascent over the past five months so well. From his first senior call up by Norway and debut international goal, to scoring in both the Champions League and now Premier League for City – he has taken it all in his stride.

“That is what has been most impressive for me,” he says. “He’s really not affected by what’s going on. This buzz around him, he’s been there a little bit before if you know what I mean. He’s quite level-headed and has probably reflected emotionally on how things were before.”

Bobb’s parents split when he was just seven. His dad, Abdou, still lives in Norway and his mum remains in Portugal with her partner and Bobb’s half sisters. His family are a very important part of his life but having a compatriot like Haaland at City is certainly aiding Bobb’s development. “Erling is very nice to him and I think it gives him an extra reassurance that one of the biggest stars in the team is someone he can communicate with on a better level maybe than some of the others,” Aaserud said.

“He really appreciates and values that Erling is there. He probably doesn’t terrorise him with questions but probably uses it and gets some support when he needs it and in terms of choices outside the pitch I think Erling can also be very helpful.”

From Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning 1500m Olympic champion, and golfer Viktor Hovland to Haaland and Odegaard, Norway is becoming the home of multiple sporting superstars. And if Bobb keeps making an impact like he did against Newcastle, the country may soon have another household name.

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