Arsenal loanee Lucas Nygaard has seen his initial run in the Brabrand IF team come to an end, dropping back to the bench to be replaced by their assistant manager.
Arsenal youth goalkeeper Lucas Nygaard moved on loan to Danish third-tier side Brabrand IF at the start of September, and his spell with the club initially seemed to be on a steady upward trajectory.
After a couple of games on the bench, Nygaard progressed into the starting lineup, playing three matches in a row between September 20th and October 5th.
Yet since then, the Arsenal goalkeeper has dropped back to the bench, watching on from the sidelines for Brabrand’s last couple of games.
To make the situation more complicated, the goalkeeper replacing Nygaard in the starting lineup is also the club’s assistant manager – Henrik Lindhard.
30-year-old Lindhard has a player-coach role with the club, and perhaps Brabrand currently prefer to rely on his experience over a 19-year-old loanee.
But that’s not to say things have all gone to plan since the change. In fact, Lindhard’s first game back in the team was a 5-1 thrashing by FC Roskilde, the most Brabrand had conceded in any game this season.
All the same, Lindhard kept his place in the lineup for the following match against VSK Aarhus, and he made a couple of saves to keep a clean sheet in a 4-0 win.
In Nygaard’s three appearances for Brabrand so far, they lost 3-2 to Skive IK, won 2-1 against Thisted FC, and lost 3-0 to Naestved BK.
The goalkeeper made eight saves against Skive, so it was a good display despite the debut defeat. But he didn’t make any saves against Naestved BK, which perhaps explains why it was after that game that he lost his place.
It’s always tough to be a goalkeeper on loan, and Nygaard will hope he can get another chance to prove himself soon.