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Before breaking into the Vasteras team as a teenager, Victor Lindelof had his head shaved. It was the idea of Robin Blomme -- the injured right-back Lindelof was set to replace -- because he thought it would make the 16-year-old look tougher.
Blomme did the honours in the dressing room after training one day. No one was sure whether Lindelof was ready for senior football in Sweden's Division One North (the third tier of the league pyramid) but at least he would look the part.
"He wasn't a clear star but he found a way to get into the team," Kalle Granath, the Vasteras manager at the time, tells ESPN FC.
It is a theme that has followed Lindelof from playing in front of 1,500 supporters in the small Swedish city where he grew up, to Lisbon and now Manchester United. After question marks following his £31 million move to Old Trafford and speculation about new defenders arriving in the summer, Lindelof is quietly establishing himself under Jose Mourinho.
Yet it was a shock to the Vasteras staff when Benfica officials got in touch to ask about Lindelof in 2011. In Portugal, the Swede had to wait his turn, first in the youth team and then the second team. It wasn't until the second half of the 2015-16 season that the young defender was given a run of games in Benfica's senior side. But, by the summer of 2017, he had done enough to earn a move to Manchester United.
"I don't think you can ever know that a kid is destined to play for Manchester United or a top team in the world because things happen along the way," says Granath. "He has this ability to always come in prepared and give it his best."
Despite helping Vasteras win promotion in 2010, Lindelof was overlooked by Sweden's biggest clubs when they were actively looking for reinforcements...
Read more on the link --> http://kwese.espn.com/soccer/club/manchester-united/360/blog/post/3701627/how-victor-lindelof-became-man-uniteds-first-choice-centre-back-and-swedens-best
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