Mathias Jensen (born 1 January 1996) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Brentford and the Denmark national team.
![]() Jensen while with Celta Vigo in 2018 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Mathias Jensen[1] | ||
Date of birth | (1996-01-01) 1 January 1996 (age 26) | ||
Place of birth | Jerslev, Zealand, Denmark[2] | ||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[3] | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Brentford | ||
Number | 8 | ||
Youth career | |||
2001–2007 | Hvidebæk IF | ||
2007–2011 | Kalundborg GB | ||
2011–2015 | Nordsjælland | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2015–2018 | Nordsjælland | 63 | (15) |
2018–2019 | Celta Vigo | 6 | (0) |
2019– | Brentford | 130 | (4) |
National team‡ | |||
2014 | Denmark U18 | 1 | (0) |
2014–2015 | Denmark U19 | 8 | (0) |
2015–2017 | Denmark U20 | 6 | (1) |
2017–2019 | Denmark U21 | 15 | (2) |
2020– | Denmark | 20 | (1) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:43, 12 November 2022 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:38, 22 September 2022 (UTC) |
Jensen is a product of the Nordsjælland academy and began his senior career with the club in 2016. Following two seasons as a regular member of the team, he transferred to Celta Vigo in 2018. After an injury-hit 2018–19 season, he transferred to Brentford and was a part of the squad which was promoted to the Premier League in 2021. A former Denmark youth international, Jensen made his full international debut in 2020.
A midfielder, Jensen progressed through the academy at Nordsjælland and signed a three-year professional contract in January 2015.[4][5] He was promoted into the first team squad for the 2015–16 season and made five appearances during the campaign, scoring one goal, which came in a 2–2 draw with Randers on 1 May 2016.[1] Jensen was a regular in the 2016–17 season, making 22 appearances,[6] before 2017–18 proved to be his breakthrough season.[1] He made 36 appearances, scored 12 goals, was awarded the captaincy and his achievements were recognised by the DBU and his club,[7] with the DBU 2017 Talent of the Year and FC Nordsjælland Player of the Year awards respectively.[8][9] After three early 2018–19-season appearances, Jensen departed Nordsjælland in August 2018.[10] During just over three seasons as a professional at Farum Park, Jensen made 66 appearances and scored 15 goals.[1]
On 8 August 2018, Jensen moved to Spain joining La Liga club Celta Vigo on a five-year contract.[10] During an injury-affected 2018–19 season, he made just six appearances and left the club in July 2019.[11][12]
On 10 July 2019, Jensen moved to England signing with Championship club Brentford on a four-year contract, with the option of an additional year, for an undisclosed fee,[12] reported to be £3.5 million.[13] He made 43 appearances and scored one goal during the 2019–20 season,[14] which ended with defeat in the 2020 Championship play-off Final.[15] Jensen made a career high 53 appearances during the 2020–21 season and celebrated promotion to the Premier League with victory in the 2021 Championship play-off Final.[16][17] As a result of suffering a "badly gashed" foot while away on international duty, Jensen missed Brentford's entire 2021–22 pre-season and the first three matches of the regular season.[18][19] Restricted to a mix of starting and substitute roles,[20][21] Jensen made 35 appearances during the season.[19]
Entering the final year of his contract,[21] Jensen began the 2022–23 season in a starting role.[1] His performance and first Premier League goal in a 4–0 win over Manchester United on 13 August 2022 was recognised with the man of the match award.[22][23]
Jensen made 30 appearances and scored 3 goals for Denmark between U18 and U21 level.[24] He was a part of Denmark's squads at the 2017 and 2019 European U21 Championships.[24] Jensen was named in the senior team's preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup,[25] but he was not included in the final squad.[12] In October 2020, Jensen won a late call-up to the full Denmark squad for a series of three matches, as a replacement for injured Brentford teammate Christian Nørgaard.[26] He made his full international debut with a start in a 4–0 friendly win over the Faroe Islands on 7 October and scored his first full international goal on his fifth cap, in a 8–0 2022 World Cup qualifying win over Moldova on 28 March 2021.[24] Jensen was named in the Denmark squad for Euro 2020 and he appeared as a substitute in each of the six matches during the Danes' run to the semi-final.[27][28] On 7 November 2022, Jensen was named in Denmark's initial 21-man selection for the 2022 World Cup.[29]
Jensen is a Manchester United and Barcelona supporter.[30]
Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Nordsjælland | 2015–16[1] | Danish Superliga | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ― | ― | ― | 5 | 1 | |||
2016–17[6] | Danish Superliga | 22 | 2 | 1 | 0 | ― | ― | ― | 23 | 2 | ||||
2017–18[1] | Danish Superliga | 35 | 12 | 1 | 0 | ― | ― | ― | 36 | 12 | ||||
2018–19[1] | Danish Superliga | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ― | 1[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | ― | 2 | 0 | |||
Total | 63 | 15 | 3 | 0 | ― | 1 | 0 | ― | 67 | 15 | ||||
Celta Vigo | 2018–19[11] | La Liga | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ― | ― | ― | 6 | 0 | |||
Brentford | 2019–20[14] | Championship | 39 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ― | 3[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 43 | 1 | |
2020–21[16] | Championship | 45 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ― | 3[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 53 | 2 | ||
2021–22[19] | Premier League | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ― | ― | 35 | 0 | |||
2022–23[22] | Premier League | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ― | ― | 16 | 1 | |||
Total | 130 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | ― | 6 | 0 | 147 | 4 | |||
Career total | 199 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 220 | 19 |
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Denmark | 2020 | 4 | 0 |
2021 | 11 | 1 | |
2022 | 5 | 0 | |
Total | 20 | 1 |
No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 28 March 2021 | MCH Arena, Herning, Denmark | ![]() |
5–0 | 8–0 | 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification | [24] |
Brentford
Individual
Brentford F.C. – current squad | |
---|---|
|
Denmark squads | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|