Daniel Mikal Aas Berntsen (born 4 April 1993) is a Norwegian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Bodø/Glimt

In the summer of 2007, a then 14-year-old Berntsen was selected as Bodø/Glimt's representative to train with the best young footballers in Norway and be coached by the likes of

Åge Hareide Åge Fridtjof Hareide (born 23 September 1953) is a Norwegian former football coach and player who last managed the Iceland national team. In his playing career, he played for Hødd and Molde in Norway as well as Manchester City and Norwich Cit ...

and

Ole Gunnar Solskjær Ole Gunnar Solskjær (; born 26 February 1973) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who currently manages Süper Lig club Beşiktaş. He spent the majority of his playing career with Manchester United and made 67 appea ...

. He joined former Rosenborg teammates,

Fredrik Midtsjø Fredrik Midtsjø (born 11 August 1993) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Süper Lig club Eyüpspor. Midtsjø began his professional career at Norwegian club Rosenborg in 2010. After loan spells at Ranheim and ...

and Jonas Svensson. Berntsen first came to real prominence when he helped Bodø/Glimt to win the

Norway Cup The Norway Cup is an international youth football tournament in Oslo, Norway. It has been held annually since 1972, with the exception of 1976 (due to a conflicting arrangement), 2020 and 2021 (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic). It is the world's l ...

Klasse B in 2009. ''Avisa Nordland'' cited Berntsen as the stand out player in Glimt's win. On 13 May 2010, just a month after his seventeenth birthday, Berntsen made his senior debut when he was a 63rd minute substitution for

Håvard Sakariassen Håvard Sakariassen (born 28 August 1976) is a Norway, Norwegian retired football striker he played for FK Bodø/Glimt. He previously played for Aalesunds FK, Bryne FK and Moss FK. He announced his retirement in August 2011. Career statistics ...

in a

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

game against Innstranden.Daniel Berntsen profil
altomfotball.no In September 2010, Berntsen signed a professional contract with Glimt. He made his

Adeccoligaen The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon () and OBOS-ligaen (due to sponsoring ties with OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are promo ...

debut a week later when he came on for Runar Berg against

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

. The following day, Berg, one of Glimt's most famous players, retired with immediate effect. He explained the decision by stating, "when I saw Daniel Berntsen running down to the byline for the second time and putting a ball across the front of goal, it became very clear to me: I cannot take up a space in the team at the expense of such a talented youngster." Berntsen went on to start four of the last five games in the 2010 season. In 2011, Berntsen became the second most regular starter for Glimt, starting all but the first three games in the season. His first professional goal was, surprisingly, from a back post header in a 2–1 over

Strømmen Strømmen is a town in Lillestrøm municipality, Akershus county, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 11,400 residents. The town has its origins from floating lumber and sawmills ...

on 5 June 2011. Berntsen's second goal, though, was one more indicative of his touted ability; after feigning past one defender, his 25-yard curling shot found the top left-hand corner of the goal in Glimt's 4–2 win over

Kongsvinger Kongsvinger () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Glåmdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kongsvinger. Other settlements in the municipality include Aust ...

. In mid-August, Berntsen himself confirmed to

NRK The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

that

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

wanted him to replace Ruben Yttergård Jenssen if the latter were to leave for an unnamed Dutch club. Such a deal would not develop, however, and on 31 August 2011 Berntsen signed for Norwegian giants Rosenborg for 4.5 million kroner. Berntsen stayed with Glimt until the end of the season, scoring a further two goals in the process. His last game, like his debut, came against Sandnes Ulf on 30 October 2011.

Rosenborg

After signing a four-year deal with Rosenborg, Berntsen admitted that the move "is a dream come true." After being compared to former Glimt and Rosenborg hero Runar Berg, the man he had made able to retire, he said, "it's great to be compared with such a great player. We can only hope that I have some of the same qualities." His first on-field contribution to his new club came on 2 November 2011 when he played in the under-19 side's 4–1 loss to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in the 2011–12 NextGen series. He played a part in the return fixture a week later when Rosenborg won 3–2, and one further match against Fenerbahçe. On 25 April 2012, Berntsen was signed on a one-month loan by

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

. Although signed outside of the regular

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, he was allowed to move as he was still a member of Norwegian youth teams. Berntsen was again loaned out in August 2012, this time to his old club Bodø/Glimt until the end of the 2012 season. Berntsen did not receive much playing time after he returned to Rosenborg. He started his first match in the 3–2 victory against Odd, where he also scored the match-winning goal.

Career statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berntsen, Daniel 1993 births Living people Footballers from Bodø Norwegian men's footballers 21st-century Norwegian sportsmen Norway men's under-21 international footballers Norway men's youth international footballers Norwegian expatriate men's footballers FK Bodø/Glimt players Rosenborg BK players Fredrikstad FK players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Vålerenga Fotball players Tromsø IL players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Allsvenskan players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Men's association football midfielders