Mika Biereth, signed from Sturm Graz in a €13m deal over the weekend, delves into his “old-school” play style and journey through the London academies as he was presented as an AS Monaco player.
Ahead of making his debut for Les Monégasques during a Coupe de France defeat at the hands of Reims on Tuesday, Biereth was presented to the press on Monday, providing insight into his route to the Principality club.
A “no-brainer” to join Monaco
Monaco had been in the market for a striker since it was decided that Folarin Balogun would require surgery on his shoulder dislocation, suffered in October.
Adi Hütter initially alluded to a loan signing before Monaco made what CEO Thiago Scuro described as a “long-term” investment in Biereth.
For the Principality club’s CEO, Biereth’s strong desire to join Monaco was crucial. “Since the first contact, we saw the mindset and his desire to come. He did a lot on his side to come here and we appreciated that. It was very important to us,” said Scuro.
“It was the right time in my career to take the next step,” began Biereth, evoking the transfer, which was completed on Saturday. “The ambition and level of Monaco speaks for itself. It was a no-brainer […] to join a club like Monaco is really special for me and I can’t wait to get started,” he added.
On the London merry-go-round
A “no-brainer” perhaps, but as Biereth told the journalists amassed at his presentation in La Turbie, his career path has been thoughtfully curated.
Born to a German-Danish father and Bosnian mother in London, he did his tour of the elite academies in the English Capital.
The Denmark U21 international joked about how he spent eight weeks on loan at Chelsea as a right-back before getting the chance to integrate the academy of their local rivals Fulham. It is there that he got his opportunity as a striker.
He spent five years with the ‘Cottagers’ before making the move to Arsenal. However, he never made a professional appearance for the ‘Gunners’. Instead, he had to prove his worth elsewhere.
After what he described as a “difficult” loan in the Netherlands with RKC Waalwijk, he then had more successful stints at Motherwell in Scotland and then with Sturm Graz in the Austrian Bundesliga.
Biereth explains his inability to establish himself at his formative club. “While I was at Arsenal I was young, they probably didn’t think that I was ready for the opportunity,” he began.
“After my first loan, a difficult loan, then moving to Scotland and then to Austria, improving stage by stage in my career, taking my time with it and trying to make sensible decisions in terms of which clubs I go to best display my talents, now, at the age of 21, I think that I have progressed a lot since the age of 19,” added Biereth.
He is not the only Monaco striker to have not established himself under Mikel Arteta at Arsenal. Balogun, who joined from the ‘Gunners’ in the summer of 2023, was the same. Having played with the USMNT forward at Arsenal, he is looking forward to rekindling the “friendship”.
“It is nice to see a familiar face. We played a few matches with the U21s together. There was a connection on the pitch. Balo and I have a friendship from before. It is nice that we are now at the same club,” said Biereth.
An “old-school” fox in the box
Biereth now finds himself once again in competition with Balogun, but also with George Ilenikhena and Breel Embolo. With four strikers now at Monaco, Scuro admitted that one could potentially leave the club come the end of the season.
The new signing will therefore want to hit the ground running and he does bring something different.
The Danish striker described himself as an “old-school” forward, part of a “dying breed”.
“I understand how important the build-up is, being available for the team, but at the end of the day, I’m a striker and I love scoring goals,” began Monaco’s new No.14.
He added, “A lot of the goals that you’ll look at aren’t the prettiest, not goals that you’ll see in YouTube video highlights. But for me, it doesn’t really matter how the ball goes in the back of the net. Scoring is one of the most important things in football and I try to do it on a consistent basis. Sometimes my goals aren’t the prettiest but a goal is a goal.”
Biereth says that he takes inspiration from Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. “When I was younger, he (Drogba) was one that I really liked to watch. He plays with that physicality and that intensity and scored in big moments and that set him apart from other strikers,” he said.
“He is clearly a finisher. He knows where he has to go. He smells where he can score goals from,” said Hütter of his new striker, who he will be hoping will contribute to a successful second half of the campaign for Monaco.
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Photo credit: Luke Entwistle / Monaco Life