Thelo Aasgaard departs Wigan Athletic 🗞️
Wigan Athletic have announced that our Academy graduate and Norwegian youth star, Thelo Aasgaard, has departed after a decade with the club.
There are certain days in the football world that I dislike, and this is one of those days. Just like Charlie Hughes’ departure in the Summer, we knew this day would come eventually, but now it is official.
Thelo Aasgaard has departed Wigan Athletic and joined Luton Town in the Championship on a permanent contract.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane to look back on Thelo’s time with Latics since joining as a 14-year-old 🇳🇴
Part One: The Academy Days
Part Two: The First Team
Part Three: The 100 Club
Part Four: The Norway Call-Ups
The Academy Days 🔵
Thelo Aasgaard was born and raised in Liverpool and spent a short stint with the Liverpool FC youth system up until the age of 14. He then joined the Wigan Athletic Academy and it became quickly apparent that the youngster had a strong element of flair in his performances.
Take a look at this stunning “Rabona” he scored from the edge of the penalty box during an Under 15s game against Blackburn Rovers in 2017 💫
On December 21st 2017, Latics announced that ten Under 16s had been offered two-year scholarships from the summer of 2018. These youngsters included; Oliver Broe, Luke Robinson, Harry Jolley, Louis Isherwood, Joseph McWilliam, Jensen Weir, McKenzie O’Neill, Kyle Joseph, Joseph Gelhardt, and Thelo Aasgaard ✍️
From the age of 16 to 18, Aasgaard suffered from injuries and this hampered his consistent development during the two-year scholarship program. Still, he showed promising signs and was nominated for the March 2019 ‘Goal of the Month’ for his strike against Morecambe Under 18s.
After a spell out with an injury, Aasgaard returned as a 70th-minute substitute in the FA Youth Cup Quarter Final tie at Old Trafford against Manchester United. Not a bad place to mark your return! 🏟️
Aasgaard played a part in our Under 18s finishing top of the 2019/20 U18 Professional Development League North campaign, although the season was cut short due to the pandemic. However, Latics were comfortably ahead by 15 points with four games in hand at the time the season was ended.
Rather than receiving a professional contract at the end of the 2019/20 season, the club gave him a third scholarship year as a chance to recover from injuries and show what he can do ✍️
“Being in digs and suffering from injuries was a tough time, and I couldn’t really find my feet as a scholar. But that’s what the journey is all about – overcoming those difficult moments and pushing through.”
Thelo Aasgaard | An extract from his EFL Feature article
The First Team 💫
On July 1st 2020, Wigan Athletic announced that the club had gone into administration. For youth players like Aasgaard, this accelerated their call-up to first-team action as the Latics’ decimated squad, with over 30 players leaving across the various squad levels, required numbers and depth to compete in our 2020/21 League One season.
Our first preseason game was against Carlisle United and Leam Richardson called up Emeka Obi, Adam Long, Alex Perry, Oli Crankshaw, Jack Sanders, Luke Robinson, Chris Merrie, Charlie Jolley, Kyle Joseph, and Thelo Aasgaard from the Under 23s to take part.
September 13th 2020 marked our League One opener against Ipswich Town, with Aasgaard being named on the bench. His first squad involvement at a competitive senior level, despite being an unused sub.
👕 Starting XI: Jamie Jones, Emeka Obi, Adam Long, Kal Naismith, Tom Pearce, Lee Evans, Chris Merrie, Viv Solomon-Otabor, Dan Gardner, Gary Roberts, Joe Garner ©️
🔄 Subs: Owen Evans, Oli Crankshaw, Kyle Joseph, Alex Perry, Charlie Jolley, Thelo Aasgaard, Patrick Webber
For the first two months of the 20/21 season, Aasgaard featured for both our Under 18s and Under 23s, before making his league debut as an 88th-minute substitute on October 20th 2020 against Peterborough United.
Aasgaard’s first league goal came on November 21st 2020 when he scored a header in the 89th minute after coming off the bench ⚽️
“You look at young Thelo - who two years ago was five foot two and wouldn’t have been able to reach those sorts of crosses in the air - and you see that if you wait for young players and young talented players to develop physically, over time you see the rewards of that and it was a great goal from Thelo.”
Gregor Rioch following Thelo Aasgaard’s first league goal
On January 11th 2021, following 13 senior appearances, Wigan Athletic announced that Thelo Aasgaard had signed his first professional contract with the club, valid until Summer 2023 ✍️
Aasgaard went on to feature 33 times throughout our 20/21 League One campaign, scoring 3 goals, assisting 2, and helping us to secure safety by one point. His most impressive performance of the season came against Doncaster Rovers (A) in April 2021 where he scored and assisted in our 4-1 victory.
Due to Wigan Athletic’s takeover in March 2021, Latics welcomed over 15 senior professionals into the club to boost the squad ahead of the new campaign. This meant that Aasgaard’s game time dropped from 33 league appearances in 20/21 to just 5 the following season, despite assisting against Plymouth and scoring against Shrewsbury in back-to-back appearances.
On December 9th 2021, Wigan Athletic announced that Thelo had signed a new deal at the club, securing his future until Summer 2026.
“The team comes first, absolutely, so whenever I can help, I’ll do my best in any situation that comes forward, whether I’m starting or on the bench. I will always give my all, and getting the three points every week is the most important result.”
Thelo Aasgaard extract from his new contract interview | December 2021
One month later, Aasgaard was a 79th-minute substitute against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup and scored a spectacular goal in the 90th minute to progress Latics into the fourth round. This won the 2021/22 Latics Goal of the Season 🎯
Following our promotion back into the Championship, Aasgaard became a first-team regular under each of our three managers in the 22/23 season (Leam Richardson - Nov 2022, Kolo Toure - Jan 2023, Shaun Maloney - Present) and featured in 41 of our 46 games, while being an unused sub in the remaining five.
Goals against Luton Town, Middlesbrough, and Millwall, with an assist against Hull City, showed us that there was real potential.
In September 2022, Aasgaard was nominated for The Athletic Rising Star of the Season awards, alongside notable names such as; Alejandro Garnacho - Manchester United, Harvey Elliott - Liverpool FC, Anthony Gordon - Everton FC, and James McAtee - Manchester City, to name a few 💫
Poor ownership and financial troubles led to points deductions and ultimately this was the final nail in the coffin for our fight to stay in the Championship.
Mike Danson secured our future in June 2023 with his takeover, and a month later Aasgaard signed a new contract extension until Summer 2028 to show his dedication to our 23/24 League One campaign and beyond. ✍️
“Thelo can play in many different positions. From the day I came in, to where we are now, I see a completely different level of player and also a real leader on the pitch in his own way. I can only see him progressing even further for us.”
Shaun Maloney on Thelo Aasgaard’s contract extension | July 2023
The 2023/24 League One season was a real coming-of-age story for Aasgaard. We all knew he was growing into the player we thought he could be, and this was the season he delivered.
8 goals and 3 assists took him to double figures for the first time in his career, becoming just one of four players to do so this season alongside Josh Magennis, Jordan Jones, and Stephen Humphrys - only the latter scored more league goals (9). ⚽️
Following Will Keane’s departure, Aasgaard took the “Number 10” role and shirt and certainly lived up to the expectations. The EFL recognised Aasgaard in three Team of the Week entries throughout the 23/24 campaign.
Aasgaard’s impressive form carried on into the 2024/25 season where Maloney trusted the 22-year-old with 23 starts in 26 League One appearances. The Norwegian repaid that trust by netting eight goals and providing two assists to reach double figures for goal contributions already.
Thelo Aasgaard’s 2024/25 League One Stats
🏟️ Appearances | 26 (23 Starts)
⏰ Minutes Played | 2086
👟 Touches | 1057
⚽️ Goals | 8
🅰️ Assists | 2
🥅 Shots | 46 (26 on Target)
🎯 Pass Completion | 80%
🔑 Key Passes | 21
⤴️ Accurate Long Balls | 31/58
💪 Ground Duel Wins | 98/203
✈️ Aerial Duel Wins | 48/115
❌ Clearances | 42
💢 Blocked Shots | 7
🚫 Interceptions | 14
⛔️ Tackles | 26
The 100 Club 💯
On February 13th 2024, Thelo Aasgaard made his 100th Wigan Athletic league appearance and capped it off with a brilliant headed goal against Oxford United. 💫
For an academy player to achieve 100 league appearances by the age of 21 is an incredible testament to the effort and dedication that Aasgaard has shown in overcoming his early injury concerns to become a key player.
Callum McManaman is the only current Wigan Athletic player to have more league appearances to his name, with only a further nine players who are not currently retired having more:
Max Power, Michael Jacobs, James McClean, Gavin Massey, Sam Morsy, Will Grigg, Callum Lang, Nick Powell, and Nathan Byrne.
That is a brilliant list to be a part of 👏🏼
The Norway Call-Ups 🇳🇴
Thelo Aasgaard was born to a French mother and a Norwegian father. Due to being born in England, and one or more of his grandparents holding another nationality, Aasgaard had a choice of four countries to represent. He chose Norway.
Due to his early signs of being a promising player, Aasgaard first represented Norway at Under 16 level and was one of eight Latics youth players to represent their countries in the 2018/19 season.
In the November 2021 international break, Aasgaard was called up to represent Norway U20s. However, a hamstring injury forced him to drop out. 🤕
A year later, Aasgaard was called up to face Germany and Belgium. He scored his first international goal 27 minutes into the game against Belgium, with a brilliant header from just inside the box.
Aasgaard continued his journey with Norway U20s for their March 2023 fixtures against Italy and Romania, before being called up to Norway U21s in October to face Austria.
After coming off the bench at halftime, Aasgaard scored in the 85th minute before Lasse Nordås nicked a winner in stoppage time. ⚽️
In March 2024, Aasgaard was again called up to play with Norway U21s in their friendlies against the Netherlands and San Marino.
After playing 45 minutes against the Netherlands in a 2-1 victory, Aasgaard scored the fourth and final goal against San Marino to help Norway climb to third place in the Euro U21 Qualifiers Group A table. 📈
During the September international break, Aasgaard played 74 minutes as Norway beat Latvia 1-0, but came off the bench to face Italy in a 3-0 defeat.
This result set up an exciting clash between Norway and Ireland where Aasgaard would face Latics teammate Baba Adeeko. Both players were named on the bench for the game in Cork, but Aasgaard’s late strike forced the keeper into a save which Norway scored on the rebound to level the game at 1-1. 👏
Aasgaard remained an unused substitute in the final deciding game against Turkey, but thanks to a resounding 5-1 victory and Ireland losing away at Italy, Norway entered the Euro U21 Qualifiers Play-Offs to face Finland.
Unfortunately for Norway U21s, Finland won 5-1 in the first leg and went on to win 6-3 on aggregate to progress to the Euro U21 finals in Slovakia taking place this Summer.
Aasgaard is now approaching the period in his career where he will be looking to make the step up to the Norway senior team. Regular football at a higher level is only going to work in his favour to achieve this dream.
The Goodbye 🤝
So, there we have it.
After joining Latics as a 14-year-old, Thelo Aasgaard went on to overcome early injury issues to become a gem within our Academy, played a major part in keeping us in League One throughout our turbulent years, featured over 150 times for the first team, and has become an exciting young talent in the Norway National Team setup. Some boy.
Like when Charlie Hughes departed, this feels bittersweet. I am gutted that we won’t be able to watch Aasgaard play football week in and week out, but every young player deserves the right to forge their own career path and this is Thelo’s time.
Thank you for everything, Thelo! All the best in your career 🫡
Up the Tics 🔵⚪️
🙌 Thank you for reading!
✍🏼 Charlie Keegan / Central Wigan
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