[DataKing]

Seamen Add Defensive Depth, Sign Veteran Defenseman Svensson

Data King, team owner and general manager for the Screamin’ Seamen Football Club, held a press conference early Tuesday to announce that the club had acquired the services of Sven Svensson, a veteran defender from Stockholm, Sweden.

28-year-old Svensson has participated in one-hundred-six matches during his long career, most of them with his original club, Champions of Manchester 1999 (now in Sweden’s 3rd Division). The Seamen acquired his services, however, from Norwegian 5th Divison side Amok, where Svensson played the second half of last season. Exact financial terms were not disclosed, but experts estimate that the acquisition cost SSFC somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000.

Svensson is well-known as an experienced, technically superior defender. While he has only tallied nine goals in his career, he is not afraid to mix things up, receiving thirteen bookings and serving three suspensions along the way. No doubt, this will endear him to some of the more rough-and-tumble members of the current Seaman squad.

“Some of you were probably wondering if we were ever going to pull the trigger,” King joked while addressing the media on Tuesday. “Well, we have, and we’re very pleased to have Sven joining the club. We wanted to be very cautious with our selection, and bring in someone who fit the Screamin’ Seamen mold. As you all well know, we take our defense very seriously in Chicago, and wanted someone who would be a solid contributor. We also wanted a player who would provide some experience and leadership for what is currently a very young team. Sven fits the bill perfectly in all of these areas.”

The acquisition of Svensson now completes the standard SSFC roster of twenty-two players, and no further personnel changes are expected any time soon for the club. Svensson will be traveling to San Francisco this week for the club’s U.S. Open Round 3 cup match, but will only serve in a back-up role.

Sven Svensson

Jersey # 24
Position: Central Defender

28 years old, inadequate (5) form, healthy.

A pleasant guy who is temperamental and upright.
Has passable (6) experience and passable (6) leadership abilities.

Specialty: Technical

Nationality: Swedish
Assessed Value: $157,000
Wage: $2,328 per week

Stamina: Excellent (8)
Playmaking: Weak (4)
Winger: Weak (4)
Scoring: Poor (3)
Goaltending: Disastrous (1)
Passing: Poor (3)
Defending: Excellent (8)
Set Pieces: Poor (3)

Sven will serve in a reserve role with the club, backing up our starting sweeper Cameron “Big Mac” McDonald. He will start with the reserve squad in friendly matches and the like, and will probably wear the captain’s armband when he serves in that capacity.

Sven has also expressed a desire to try his hand at coaching at some point in his career. While we are currently quite pleased with the performance of head coach Ioan Fluieras, Sven may very well find a place on our coaching staff in the future.

Up Next: Our U.S. Open Cup Round 3 match against FireRangers07. Stay tuned!