Playmaker's road to Motherwell transfer paved by mystery Scottish football contact as ex-Dundee United ace key
St Mirren and Motherwell both had new faces on the pitch during their enthralling Premiership draw.
He doesn’t know how his former teammate made him aware of Scottish football - but Jardell Kanga is glad he did after signing on at Motherwell.
The Swedish youth international made an instant impact on Sunday as he netted a stoppage-time debut screamer that clinched a 3-3 Premiership draw at St Mirren. He signed on Friday after an impressive stint at Finnish side Ilves, where he played alongside 35-year-old forward Roope Riski, who has been capped by Finland at senior level. Now on loan at Oulu, Riski has no well-known Scottish football connection outside brother Riku’s short-lived Dundee United loan a decade ago, where he worked under fellow Finn Mixu Paatelainen.
Kanga wasn’t sure how the connection came to pass but a late night phone call soon put the wheels in motion for transfers talks with Motherwell’s head of football Nick Daws. Already aware of Motherwell’s Swedish boss Alfred Johansson through work in Scandinavia, the 20-year-old was quickly sold on the idea of working under him.
Why has Jardell Kanga joined Motherwell?
“Two weeks ago, my teammate from Ilves, Roope Riski, called me at 12 in the night,” Kanga explained. “He said that it’s a Scottish club who were looking for my agent’s number. I was like: What? I wanted to sleep so I just sent him my agent’s number. Then we spoke quite quickly with the coach and with Nick. We just tried to make it happen as fast as possible. So thanks to Roope. I don’t know his connection with Scotland but he got a phone call and got in touch with me.”
Winger Amar Fatah is also close with Kanga. A fellow Swedish youth international, he spent last season on loan at Dundee United from French team Troyes, clinching a permanent Serie A switch to Lecce off the back of his Tannadice form.
“I looked at a bit of footage from Motherwell last season,” added Kanga. “I have a friend who played last season at Dundee United, Amar Fatah. He told me that Motherwell is an unbelievable team and play the best football in the league. Amar got a good platform here and, of course, that’s also why I came here.”
Nikolas Agrafiotis on joining St Mirren
St Mirren’s debuting striker, Nikolas Agrafiotis, had his own Scottish football connections in helping him seal a move to Paisley. He started the six-goal thriller and lasted an hour, having only been announced that morning, following a stint in the third tier of German football with Wehen Wiesbaden. Hearts hero Mark de Vries worked with him at Dutch club FC Dordrecht and another ex-Jambo, Orestis Kiomourtzoglou, played with him most recently in Germany. Marinus Dijkhuizen, formerly of Dunfermline Athletic, was his boss at Excelsior in Holland.
"I've known for a few weeks. I've always had some interest from Scottish Football,” said Agrafiotis. “When I was in the Netherlands, I decided to go to Germany, but I felt this was the right moment to come here. In Germany, I played alongside Orestis Kiomourtzoglou who was at Hearts a few years ago.
“I had some coaches in the Netherlands - Mark De Vries, I think he was a striker at Hearts as well. He told me about Scottish Football. My former coach Marinus Dijkhuizen [ex-Dunfermline Athletic] also played in Scotland. They said very good things about Scottish football and I'm happy to be here. After this first game, I know it's a good place for me.”
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