Jesper Karlsson lifts lid on Aberdeen move and what Lewis Ferguson said to him about Dons

The 27-year-old, who was sold by AZ Alkmaar to the Italian club for more than 11million euros in August 2023, joined the Dons on transfer deadline day in arguably the most eye-catching deal struck by a Scottish club this summer.

Karlsson admitted the presence of Reds boss Thelin, who was his manager at Elfsborg between 2018 and 2020, was key to his decision to switch Serie A for the William Hill Premiership.

“I have a good relationship with Jimmy since I played in Sweden, so this was a good choice for me,” he said in a club interview. “He was a big factor in me coming here.

“I was young when he came in (at Elfsborg), but I remember well his way of treating players. Very professional, but also very good on the human side.

“He made my career fly a bit when it was the same situation that I didn’t play. Then he was a little bit hard on me and then I started to play. We had good times together in Sweden and we have kept in contact also when I was in Holland and Italy.”

‘I need to play football’

Karlsson spent the second half of last season on loan at Lecce after being restricted to just 15 appearances – eight as a starter – in his first 18 months at Bologna.

“I had a super time in Italy, I like it a lot,” said the winger, who has 14 Sweden caps to his name. “It’s on the highest level, it’s a lot of good competition with so many good players.

“I fight to get my shirt and it’s hard, of course. You need to work and maybe sometimes you need to have some luck, but I didn’t have this moment even if I felt like I had the quality to be there. But I need to play football, and that was an important one for me.

“It has been a period in Italy where I have not been playing so much with consistency, but I talked to the other sports directors (at Aberdeen) and I got a very nice and warm feeling. They want me here and that was important for me in my situation. So I feel like it was a win-win situation for both of us. I’m happy that people are happy to have me here. This is something I’ve really felt since I came here.”

Karlsson has learned about Aberdeen from his time in the Bologna dressing room with Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson, who made more than 150 appearances for the Dons before moving to Italy in 2022.

“We have played together for one-and-a-half, two years, so of course I spoke to him about Aberdeen,” he said. “Even before this transfer window, when I saw the Scottish Cup win, and he knows that I know Jimmy, sometimes we joke about it.

“He is such an Aberdeen fan also. Every time Aberdeen won he was happy, but when it was one (bad) streak last season he was not too happy! It was nice also to hear from him about the city and the team.”