William Kvist introduction

To introduce our new signing William Kvist, I did this interview with Copenhagen fan Christian Wilkens.

A German translation of this interview can be found here.

Hello Christian, why don´t you tell us something about yourself first.

 Well, I’m a 23 year old kid from Copenhagen. I’ve been a FCK-fan since I was 6 years old and because of that I’ve also witnessed how William broke in to the team and over a period of time established himself as a club legend.

Obvious question, but what is your opinion of Kvist as a player. I see that he started his career off as a right back and only switched to CM/DM not too long ago. Why did he switch positions and in what kind of system did he play at FCK (diamond, 2 def mids etc.)? Do you see room for improvement or do you think he´s a “finished article”? If you had to describe his style of play, is there anyone you´d compare him to (think Xavi, Iniesta, Essien for different styles or Khedira/Schweinsteiger for Germany with the destroyer and the creative guy)? What are his strengths and weaknesses?

What was your favorite William Kvist moment for FCK? Any story in particular you might want to share? Anything you want to tell us about William as a person? Many people think we have a leadership problem at Stuttgart and many people hope William can solve that. Do you think he´s a natural leader who can assume a leadership role from Day 1 despite the obvious challenge he´s going to face in a new country and a new league?

William Kvist has always seen the central midfield spot as his preferred. During his years as a youth product he played as a central midfielder, he did it for youth national teams and when he first broke in to the first team it was as a midfielder as well.

Little by little he established himself. Ståle Solbakken became coach and ‘Willy’, as is nickname is, grew with time. He played some games on the right flank and actually did okay. At this time he wasn’t one of the first on the teamsheet every week. He was a useful squad player but not yet a dominant force.

Then the former HSV- and Nürnberg-player Lars Jacobsen left FCK and suddenly we had no right back. Ståle decided that William was the best choice. He did excellent there. He played it for six months and Ståle said that if he wanted to he could become Denmark’s best right back in no time and be secured a place in the national team’s first eleven.

But William refused to see himself as a right back. He had only one goal and that was to the central midfield-position for FC Copenhagen and make it there. And he did. Those six months were the only six months that William Kvist has ever played as a right back. We signed Pospech and William was again a midfielder.

Last season was his breakthrough season. He played central midfielder alongside Claudemir in a 4-4-2 formation. No diamond, but as one of the two holding midfielders. William knocked captain Hjalte Nørregaard of the team and took the armband along the way. It was like having a new player. He was dominant, strong, very outspoken and a leader on the pitch. His development the last 12-16 months has been exceptional.

He’s by no means a finished product. He still got things to work on and improve. And therefore it was a right thing for him to move abroad. He can improve his passing game and his technical attributes. A little more anticipation would suit his games at time. But one thing you always get with William is a 100% committed effort. He’s not the type of player that dives into one tackle after another but he runs and runs and runs for the whole game and are always very well prepared. So there’s no doubt he’s more a ‘Khedira’ than a ‘Xavi’!

For the last couple of years he has worked together with his private mental coach. They have set some goals for him to achieve and that has helped him a lot, he says. He’s a serious guy. He reads a lot of books and has just finished his BA at Copenhagen Business School. He’s not the kind of typical footballer that spends all his spare time going to clubs or playing Play Station all night One of my best mates played in FC Copenhagen ones and he told me that whenever they were on a training camp with the team William lay in his bed reading or making school work when all the other guys played golf or Playstation. Not that Willy is a humourless guy or anything, he’s just serious about his sport.

So to answer your question; yes, you guys have got a leader figure in William. I think he will settle down fine in Germany. I think he mentality and way of playing match the German way very well.

How will you or FCK fans in general remember him and what was the general reaction when he announced his exit?

I think FC Copenhagen fans will remember William Kvist as the captain of the team in it’s most successful season ever. William has played all his life in FC Copenhagen and is a product of the club. We knew he would leave at some point, and that it was very likely to be this summer because of his excellent season and the fact that he only had one year left on his contract. So it was no shock but still sad. But I’m sure he will return some day.

Anything I didn´t ask you want to tell the Stuttgart fans reading this? Personal message of some kind?

Take good care of him, he’s a nice kid

We thank you for your time, Christian, and hope you enjoyed this as much as we did.

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