Schooled for success: how English lessons power Midtjylland’s talent factory

If there is a secret to Midtjylland’s success in the transfer market then it starts in the classroom. Before this summer the Danish club renowned for an innovative approach had banked more than €200m (£170m) in sales since 2018, and they have just enjoyed the most profitable window in their short history.

The departure of the Guinea-Bissau striker Franculino Djú for Trabzonspor and the Chile forward Darío Osorio’s move to Crystal Palace on loan with an obligation to buy will potentially bring in €62m (£53.2m), with both deals completed in 48 hours at the end of the window. That followed the departures of the homegrown winger Aral Simsir and South Korean defender Lee Han-beom for Club Brugge for another €25m. The next batch of recruits included David Martínez, a 20-year-old Venezuela international from the MLS side LAFC. “I think hectic will be a good word,” says the technical director, Kristian Kjær, of the past couple of months.

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What those sold have in common is that they were schooled for success by Midtjylland’s methodical approach that includes mandatory English lessons at least three times a week. “They are as important for them as it is to train,” Kjær says. “Because if they cannot understand English within six months, they cannot communicate with the coach. So it’s quite important for our common success.”

In a squad that has 17 nationalities from five continents, communication is key. Midtjylland employ coaches from all over the world to help new arrivals settle in. “We’re not running Midtjylland as a Danish club; we are an international club,” says Kjær, who describes Djú and Osorio as “poster boys for what we are trying to do”.

The fee for Osorio, whose move was confirmed almost two hours after the Premier League deadline had passed, is in line to become the most expensive Danish top-flight sale, with Palace having an obligation to pay £22.3m next summer and up to another £3.4m in bonuses. The 22-year-old made his first Palace start in their 3-0 Carabao Cup win against Middlesbrough after coming on against Fulham a few days earlier in the Premier League. He was spotted by Midtjylland’s scouts playing for Universidad de Chile and the club saw off competition from RB Leipzig, Milan and Atalanta to sign him in August 2023 – the month the Brentford owner, Matthew Benham, sold his controlling stake to the Danish businessman Anders Holch Povlsen.

“Darío prioritised the importance for him to start in a club and environment in Europe that could help him grow so one day he could go to the Premier League, which has been his dream since he was a small boy,” Kjær says. “His integration off the pitch was most important. Chilean football is not, and I don’t try to sound disrespectful, the most professional setup when it comes to nutrition and habits outside the pitch. Darío used to eat a lot of white bread for dinner and he couldn’t understand why he was not fully energised in the morning. That was one of the first things we did: look into his nutrition plan.”

Osorio, a predominantly left-footed forward who prefers playing as an inverted right-winger but can also fill the No 10 role, hit the ground running in Denmark and ended his first season with eight league goals.

“Since then, we have seen him putting on layers and layers,” Kjær says. “Darío has been outgrowing the league for some time and he was by far, in my opinion, the best player by a distance. We are very happy to see him making the step and believe he has the quality to be competitive in the Premier League, not as a sub but as a starting lineup player.”

There were a few nervous moments on deadline day as Palace pursued Malick Fofana before pivoting back to Osorio at the last minute when the Lyon forward picked Sunderland.

“We prepared both the agent and the player that everything can easily end up being in the last days of the window because English clubs are not that brave to bring in players from outside England, especially not from the not top five leagues,” Kjær says. “It was a bit stressful, especially for Darío. But at the same time, mentally, he was also a bit prepared for that: ‘OK, I have to perform in the beginning of the season to keep myself in the shop window.’”

Midtjylland are hoping that the arrival of the 20-year-old Martínez for €7.3m, a Danish record, will help to fill the void left by Osorio and Djú, their top scorer last season with 17 goals. Thanks to the club’s FC Ebedei academy in Nigeria, which was established in 2004 and has helped to produce players such as Coventry’s Frank Onyeka, Midtjylland’s squad has also been boosted by the addition of the promising teenagers Olashile Musa Lawal and Ikenna Udechukwu as they attempt to win the title for the first time since 2024. They were runners-up last season to the surprise package AGF.

“We are just standing on the shoulders of the work we have done earlier,” says Kjær. “But, to sound a bit boring because it takes so much work, it’s also a bit according to strategy. This is what we hoped for, but also what we have worked for. That is why it makes us proud. It’s not just pure luck.”