Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson is unfazed by transfer speculation surrounding Austrian midfielder Lukas Fadinger. The 25-year-old has made a strong start to the season, scoring three goals, and was linked with European and fellow Premiership interest last week.
Johansson calm over interest
Johansson said he would be more disappointed if there wasn't interest in his players, given their performances. He said: "If I should read everything, all the interest in all of our players because they are performing so good, I would also lose track of my job description. I don't really have much to say about that. What I can say is that we have a lot of good players and there will always be clubs interested, 100%."
Fadinger has stepped out of the shadows after the summer sales of Elijah Just, Elliot Watt and Callum Ward. Johansson believes the midfielder is in a good place and enjoying his football.
Fadinger's form praised
He said: "Everyone likes a pat on their back when they're doing well. Everyone likes a bit of praise. For me, Lukas is a cool guy. I don't think he cares. He's so grounded and he's so focused on himself and a calm guy. I think he feels really good at the moment because he's performing well, his body is in a good place, the team is working well, he plays an important role. I just see the guy enjoying playing football at the moment a lot. I think that's the biggest joy professionally for him at the moment."
European preparations continue
Motherwell are preparing for the second leg of their Conference League play-off against Freiburg, having lost the first leg 3-1 at home. They have beaten Havnar Boltfelag and HJK to reach this stage against last season's Europa League finalists.
Johansson said the European journey has been a learning curve that will benefit his squad. He said: "What we spoke about in the locker room is that when you face a new level of intensity, where you have to think and decide faster, handle the ball and with better quality because the pressure is so high in the one v ones all over the park. It stays in your body and doesn't just go away. You learn how hard it is to play with that intensity, but they did it for long spells of the game. If they realise they will keep it going to Germany and all the games going forward. These games we have played in the European qualification have been invaluable for development. It is something we will profit from in recent months, I have no doubt about that."
Youngsters given chances
Johansson has given exposure to several Motherwell youngsters, including Mikey Booth, Olly Whyte and Luca Ross. They have been asked to step up due to an injury list that has been added to with Oscar Priestman and Johnny Koutroumbis ruled out for the next month.
Johansson said: "These are really good players. Some of them have already performed well in the qualification campaign for Motherwell FC. Some of them have performed the last couple of years for Motherwell FC. Olly was playing in Stenny last year, receiving a lot of praise. Mikey has been receiving a lot of praise. If they're in, my personal principle is a belief that, if you're in our squad, if we have you on a contract, it's because we believe you're good enough to play for this club. If Stephen O'Donnell, Paul McGinn, Johnny Koutroumbis, Oscar Priestman, if all of these guys would have been fit for Sunday then maybe one or two or three of these young boys did not get these chances. That's a part of the equation that we cannot deny. But we believe in these boys."
