Leo Walta (born 24 June 2003) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjælland.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Leo Walta | ||
| Date of birth | (2003-06-24) 24 June 2003 (age 19) | ||
| Place of birth | Vantaa, Finland | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Nordsjælland | ||
| Number | 30 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| HJK Helsinki | |||
| 2019–2021 | Nordsjælland | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2019 | Klubi 04 | 6 | (0) |
| 2021– | Nordsjælland | 17 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2018 | Finland U-15 | ||
| 2019 | Finland U-16 | 3 | (1) |
| 2019–2020 | Finland U-17 | 12 | (3) |
| 2021– | Finland U-21 | 2 | (0) |
| 2022– | Finland U-19 | 3 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:21, 31 August 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18:29, 19 May 2022 (UTC) | |||
Walta started at HJK Helsinki when he was eight years old.[1] Walta was a very attractive player during his youth years at HJK, where it led to several trials in, among others, German clubs TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich, and also at Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.[2] However, he couldn't move abroad until he was 16 years old, according to FIFA rules.
Therefore, he stayed at HJK and at the age of 15 in May 2019, started playing for HJK's reserve team, Klubi 04, in the Finnish third division, Kakkonen.[3]
In September 2019 it announced, that FC Nordsjælland had bought 16-year old Walta from HJK Helsinki for "a significant transfer amount".[1] In his first season at the club, he mostly played for the U-17 team, but also made seven appearances and scored two goals for the U-19s, while he also made his reserve team debut in November 2019.
In the 2020-21 season, Walta became a key player for Nordsjælland's U19s, where he played 23 league games and scored six goals. At the end of the season, on 14 July 2021, Nordsjælland confirmed, that Walta had signed a new deal with the club and had been promoted to the first team squad.[4] Four days later, on 18 July 2021, Walta got his professional debut for Nordsjælland against Viborg FF in the Danish Superliga.[5]
FC Nordsjælland – current squad | |
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