Paul Torres at Nyköpings BIS

Fantastic result for Nyköpings BIS today in the Swedish Cup as they beat Allsvenskan team Kalmar FF 2-1 at home! A win that will go down into the clubs history books no doubt since you have to remember that the highest level Nyköping ever played at was ten seasons in the second tier around thirty years ago. They even got a segment on the sports news of the biggest national TV channel here in Sweden.

Both Torres and Gracia played the full 90 minutes and Torres assisted on the first goal and was mentioned as one of the best Nyköping players. Now the club only have to win five more games and then they're in the Europa League qualifiers

 

As you can see in the video above Torres scored his first goal of the season this weekend when Nyköping lost 1-3 against BK Forward. And speaking of forward, it seems like that's the position he's been playing for the last two games. I guess that Nyköping has a pretty strong central midfield with canadian Ethan Gage and Suad Gruda but at the same time they are lacking strikers so it makes sense from that perspective. Torres have started every single game so far and played the full 90 minutes except for this last game against BK Forward where he was substituted in the 87th minute.

Overall Nyköping have started very well in the league for a newly promoted side, not totally unexpected though after their strong performances in the preseason Swedish Cup.

 

Goal on 6/30 vs AFC United at 2:44-



Also scored on 7/7 vs. Umea FC-

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/umea-fc-nykoepings-bis/index/spielbericht_2298365.html

 

Torres has signed a new deal with Nyköping which extends his contract to the end of 2014. Included in the deal is a release clause if clubs from a higher division comes calling. Overall he has continued to impress and just today he was named player of the month on the official club website. In that article they describe him this way:

"Paul Torres is a perpetual motion machine with incredible winning instincts. He loves to compete. Every day, training session, and game. He means alot for the lockerroom atmosphere and has all the qualities to succeed. It's a privilege to work with him."

The team overall have also continued to impress. After being promoted from the fourth tier last year they are still in the fight for the promotion playoff spot to Superettan:

 

Although they seem to have tired a bit in some games during the fall Nyköping has continued to impress during their first season in the third tier and with one game remaining they still got a chance to finish second which would mean promtion playoffs.



Torres has remained a key starter in central midfield with four goals and two assists so far, after the goalkeeper he has the most minutes played on the team. Gracia has also featured in most games but more often then not as a substitute and from the two games I watched them play he was on the right wing. He has also scored four goals and had three assists.

 

Nyköpings BIS had the second place at half time in the last round this past weekend as they were up 2-1 and Dalkurd were losing with the same numbers. Unfortunaly Dalkurd turned around their game in the second half and ended up winning 5-2 which left Nyköping an annoying 1 point from the promotion playoffs.

After another successful season Torres might very well be changing clubs though and next week he will trial with Superettan club Landskrona BoIS.

 

Landskrona BoIS played with a total of eight trialists on their team in a friendly against some kind of youth-like team from Helsingborgs IF today. According to reports Torres scored a goal and was one of the, if not the best trialists for Landskrona.

 

Sounds like the move to Landskrona BoIS is close to happening for Paul Torres. The local paper writes in an article today that he is currently negotiating a contract with the club. The club director comments that progress has been made but that there are a few things left in the negotiations that they have to agree upon. He also compliments Torres and says that he has qualities that fits with Landskrona like being good with the ball at his feet, having good character and always wanting to have the ball.

 

Landskrona BoIS announced on their website today that they have signed Torres on a two year deal. The club director comments:

"It feels really good to have made our first signing. Only the medical remains which will happen when Paul returns from the USA where he is currently at. Paul Torres is a very skilled player with high work rate, good technique and also a good attitude and character. We were impressed when he trained with us for a week and played a game."

 

In an interview with the local paper today Torres says that he wants to help Landskrona in getting promoted back to Allsvenskan. He didn't know much about the club but found out that it was classic and historical which together with giving a professional impression seems to have impressed him. Here are some more directly translate quotes by Torres from the article:

"I want to win with BoIS. I'm extremely competitive, believe in hard work and discipline and fight for every centimeter in this sport. I want to bring BoIS back to Allsvenskan. With the right group and mentality, why not? From what I've seen the difference isn't very big." (I assume he is refering to the difference in quality between the teams in Superettan here)

"I want to do my best and bring every game to a new level. I'm humble and willing to do what the coach tells me to. Putting the team first? Yes. But like everyone else I want to evolve, win and most importantly show my capacity for reaching the next level. There's been interest and trial offers from other clubs, but no offers. It never got to the stage where I was going to trial with another club. But that's good, because now I want to give everything to BoIS."

And here's a quote from manager Jörgen Pettersson:

"He's skilled, technical, comitted and works hard with a good attitude. He's passionate about football and wants to move upward. And he's only 22 years old. We have followed him previously, and the trial confirmed what we already knew about him."

Torres also seems to have a dog that matches the Landskrona colors/crest according to this photo by a local news site, although it is unconfirmed that it is actually his dog:

 

The word among Landskrona supporters seems to be that Torres is really impressing this preseason, it will be interesting to see what he can do when the Superettan season starts up. Landskrona BoIS are having a big rebuilding year this season with alot of player turnover so it's difficult to predict how their season will turn out.

 

Assist vs. Syrianska FC 4/17.

 

I haven't been able to post any updates or videos lately on players in Sweden since I've been busy doing other stuff. But since I watched both of the Landskrona americans score earlier today in a game against Östersund I thought that I should drop in with a quick update.



First of all I have watched Landskrona play a couple of times earlier this season and the team has looked pretty rough due to large turnover of players in the offseason and some positions having pretty weak starters. Their play seems to be improving a bit lately though and I hope they will stay clear of relegation. Todays game was really one they should have won even though they ended up losing 2-3. Both americans did well and scored one each as you can see in the videos but they also have to take some blame for the result as they both should have scored maybe two goals more each. I'm talking about shooting over a wide open goal from the penalty spot type of misses from both.

Stadler has, from my recollection, mainly been used as a winger or attacking midfielder in his previous teams in Sweden. He has however now been moved up to play as a full out forward due to the clubs first choice striker getting a long term injury and delays with work permits/visas for their Ghanaian forward signing. Having watched him play there for a few games now I have to say that he does look like an attacking midfielder playing forward. Besides that he has really made the best of the situation and has been really succesful in scoring goals (three in six games) and he has showed an extremely impressive workrate. I would almost say that it's Alejandro Bedoya-esque, although at a lower level obviously.

I've also seen Torres play three games. In the first he was the best player on the pitch, in the second he looked really mediocre, and in the third today he again looked very lively although he missed a couple of sitters. I think he has showed flashes of skills, quickness and football intelligence that would be enough to play at a higher level but I guess the main thing for him is to find a way to play at that level consistently because like I said he looked dire in the second game I watched. If I were to use a common point of comparison here I would say that his style reminds me a bit of Michael Nanchoff who played in Superettan last year on loan, although I think Torres is faster.

Overall I think it's pretty clear that both americans will be playing big roles this year for Landskrona as the club tries stabilize themselves a bit.

 

Torres scored a late equalizer today against Öster. I watched the game and Landskrona actually played well for large parts of the 90 minutes but you can see that they are a team at the bottom of the table since they immediatly turned poor when Öster scored the 0-1 goal. And then when their opponents got a man sent of they also conceded the 0-2 goal before pulling off the unlikely comeback to 2-2. As usual in Superettan the table is very close though and it really only takes a couple of wins in a row to move up significantly.

 

Paul scored a goal last Sunday against Värnamo.

 

Both the Landskrona americans scored today when they beat IFK Värnamo 3-1. The club is now, at least for the moment, out of the relegation zone.

 

Really nice header from Torres.

 

Unfortunaly Landskrona were relegated in the end. Torres had an impressive first half of the season but maybe a slightly weaker second half. The club changed managers in the summer so maybe that had something to do with it. There haven't been any transfer rumours around Torres that I've seen so far but I did read on the clubs forum that he is no longer renting his apartment in Landskrona so that might be a sign, and I figure he has performed well enough for some other club to show interest.

 

@iamalfred is back with a vengeance!

 

Landskrona announced on their website today that they have reached an agreement with Torres to terminate his contract.

 

Torres has signed a two year deal with norwegian club Sandnes Ulf.

 

Academy? @bungadiri

 

Torres might be returning to Sweden as he is currently trialing with second tier Superettan club Assyriska. Unfortunaly it seems like he has injured his foot and it seems like whether he'd be signed or not will come down to how serious that injury is. Torres himself comments that "if it's not broken and I can return to playing within the next few weeks weeks it's a go, otherwise I guess I will be returning back home to the US".