I have a new name to add to your watchlist: 16 year old Danish striker Mikkel Bro Hansen. A product of the Aarhus GF academy (the same club that former Glimt star Albert Grønbaek came from), and Danish youth international, Bro Hansen recently signed with Bodø/Glimt in February and has been immediately integrated into the first team. Moving from youth teams, to training with the Glimt first team every day will be very beneficial to Hansen’s development, and Glimt is a club that he can start to reach his full potential at.

The Bodø/Glimt manager, Kjetil Knutsen, takes a general philosophical approach of “marginal improvements, every day.” This means he does not set specific targets or goals for his players to try (or possibly fail) to reach. Instead he wants his players to simply focus on making improvements every day, focusing on the process instead of the end goal. This type of environment will be key to help Bro Hansen develop while also growing in confidence, without an unrealistic progression goal to try and reach.

So far, the young striker has featured for the Glimt senior team in two cup matches so far this season. While both were against lower tier sides in Norway, these were still fully grown men, and the 16 year old striker was given the start in both matches. He delivered, scoring a hat trick + assist in each match. While not the most physically imposing centre-forward (this is to be expected, as he is still just a child), Mikkel Bro Hansen has already shown a high level of competence in many of the mental areas that are necessary to be an elite striker, things many strikers often do not develop until later in their careers. His sense of when to make a run and WHERE to make that run is excellent, some of the best I’ve seen for a player this age. This allowed him to totally dominate opponents who were held significant physical advantages over him. Bro Hansen is a very fluid type of centre-forward, who does like to drop deeper and link up with his teammates. This suits Glimt’s style of football, another reason this transfer is likely to be beneficial to him. He is a smart player who knows how to play to his strengths, and with where he’s at now at 16, I believe he has all the potential to become a elite centre-forward at a top European club. Bro Hansen has the talent, and seems to have the ambition required to reach his full potential. Leaving home and joining the Glimt first team at 16 is no simple task for a very young player, but the plan Glimt have presented to him for his development made it worthwhile. If Bro Hansen reaches his full potential, it isn’t a question of if Bodø/Glimt can keep hold of him, but rather when a club with more than 10x the budget of Bodø come knocking.

In the end this move will only be a win-win for Bodø. Top European clubs likely will not try to make a move for Bro Hansen until he turns 18 (which will happen near the end of the January 2027 transfer window). If his development skyrockets at Glimt, we could see him making a move this early. However, as many other players have shown at Glimt, it would not hurt his career to stay in northern Norway for another year or two, playing regular European football with Bodø. It is impossible to know with certainty how good a player this young could become. There are so many factors affecting a player’s development, on and off the pitch, that all we can really do is track their progress year by year and re-evaluate regularly. Given what we’ve seen so far, Mikkel Bro Hansen has everything he needs to become one of Denmark’s finest centre-forwards in their nation’s proud history, and even if he doesn’t reach his full potential, will almost certainly carve out a very respectable career in Europe at the top level.

In the Europa League semi-final against Tottenham (the first leg starts today), Bro Hansen is coming into the match as Glimt’s only legitimate backup striker, as Andreas Helmersen, the usual sub for Kasper Høgh, is suspended for the first leg. Obviously Knutsen will not want to harm his development by throwing him into a game-state that isn’t set up for him to succeed. However, this is the most likely chance we will have to see Bro Hansen make his top-level debut for Glimt, and that is exciting.

Mikkel Bro Hansen. Remember the name, he is One to Watch.