Leo Fuhr Hjelde (born 26 August 2003) is a Norwegian professional

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 ...

who plays as a defender for club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. He previously played for Ross County on loan from Celtic.

Early life

Hjelde is the son of former

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and Rosenborg defender

Jon Olav Hjelde Jon Olav Hjelde (born 30 July 1972) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Career Born in Levanger, Hjelde began his career at his local team Vuku, which competed in the Norwegian Third Division. He jo ...

, who was playing for South Korean K League club Busan I'cons when Leo was born in England. Jon Olav briefly returned to England to witness Leo's birth, after which the family moved to South Korea for several months to live with Jon Olav in Busan. They returned to England in mid-2004, and subsequently moved to Norway after Jon Olav's two-year spell at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

ended in 2007.

Club career

Celtic

On 29 July 2019, Hjelde signed a professional contract with

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club Celtic at 15 years old; he was brought straight into the reserve squad. On 22 January 2021, Hjelde signed for Premiership side Ross County on loan for the remainder of the season. He made his league debut the following day against Rangers in a 5–0 defeat. He scored his first professional goal on 6 March 2021 in a 3–2 win against Kilmarnock. His performances on loan led to Ross County boss John Hughes likening the young defender to former Celtic player

Virgil van Dijk Virgil van Dijk (born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Considered one of the best defenders in the world, Van Dijk is known for his strength, lea ...

Leeds United

On 27 August 2021, Hjelde signed for Leeds United for an undisclosed fee, signing a four-year-deal at Elland Road. Hjelde made his senior debut for Leeds United on 9 January 2022 in the starting line-up in 2–0

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

third round defeat to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. He made his Premier League debut the following week, also at West Ham, when he came on as a first-half replacement for Junior Firpo in Leeds' 3–2 win, becoming the youngest Norwegian to play in the Premier League. On 12 January 2023, Hjelde joined EFL Championship side

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2022–23 season.

Career statistics

References

External links

International statistics
at the NFF 2003 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham Norwegian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Norway men's youth international footballers Scottish Professional Football League players Premier League players Celtic F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Norwegian expatriate men's footballers Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland English Football League players {{Norway-footy-defender-stub