Nottingham Forest are exploring plenty of midfield options to improve Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad, with Danish star Mads Bidstrup racing to the top of the shortlist.
Bidstrup is open to the Forest move after talks began between the Reds and Salzburg, but the Austrian side are set to demand a high price for their Danish talent.
The Bidstrup news has come at a good time for Reds fans as Forest’s potential move for Douglas Luiz has stalled, with Juventus wanting to find a replacement before sanctioning any deal.
After Danilo departed for Botafogo, there’s room in the Forest squad for a midfielder, so with that in mind, here is all you need to know about Salzburg star Mads Bidstrup.
Mads Bidstrup in action for Salzburg against SK Brann
Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images
Who is Mads Bidstrup?
Bidstrup was born on the 25th of February 2001 in Køge, Denmark. Having bounced around top Danish academies such as Brøndby and Copenhagen, the five-foot-nine midfielder ended up at RB Leipzig, before a move to Brentford.
Continuing his development in Austria at Salzburg, Bidstrup became club captain before attracting interest from Forest.
Mads Bidstrup’s playing style
Primarily featuring as a defensive midfielder for Salzburg, Bidstrup has a reputation as a relentless presser, with energy to drift past players in the central areas to support his side going forward.
MORE FOREST STORIES
Speaking in 2022, Brentford boss Thomas Frank recognised the player he’d become in Austria, telling Brentford’s website: “His pressing is from another world. He covers the pitch superbly and is very aggressive. That fits perfectly with our style.
“He can play as either a ‘number six’ or ‘number eight’ and in the long term I think he will be a six. He closes everything down defensively and has great acceleration so he can drive past players.”
Mads Bidstrup stats
Statistic Mads Bidstrup 24/25
Goals 2
Assists 2
Pass accuracy 82.7%
Duels won per 90 6.57
Recoveries per 90 7.66
Interceptions per 90 1.53
Bidstrup clearly has work to do in the goal contributions department, but the rest of the Dane’s stats show that he possesses remarkable defensive attributes.
The Salzburg star dominates midfield duels and defensive recoveries in a way that nobody in the Forest squad can match, so if he were able to add more of a threat going forward, he could become an unstoppable force for Espírito Santo.
Mads Bidstrup Brentford
As previously mentioned, Brentford took a chance on Bidstrup when he was just 19 years old, initially joining their B team.
He would go on to make 14 appearances for The Bees, including four in the Premier League, so English football wouldn’t be a culture shock for him.
Mads Bidstrup was compared to N’Golo Kanté
He may not have cemented a place in the Brentford first team, but that’s not to say that Frank was not a fan of Bidstrup. In fact, he once likened the Danish talent to that of Premier League icon, N’Golo Kanté.
In an interview for Brentford’s website in January 2022, Frank said: “One of Mads Bidstrup’s strengths is that he has such a big engine. He reminds me a bit of N’Golo Kanté at Chelsea and that’s a big, big claim of course.
“His ability to press and cover so many yards across the pitch is fantastic and that acceleration when he just goes past people, I think that’s so good in the pressure.”
Mads Bidstrup Instagram
While not particularly active, Bidstrup can be found on Instagram, compiling updates on his personal life as well as moments on the pitch for his over 30,000 followers.
His Instagram handle is: @mads_bidstrup