– The offer that Glimt made me was just a joke – VG

– It was heavy. We started negotiating an exit from Egypt in early December. It has taken a long time. In the end, I just said they had to decide, or I would just stay. It wouldn’t have been the best thing for my career, but I hadn’t given up an inch, Layouni tells VG.

The left wing is ready for Vålerenga, as VG was able to reveal on Monday morning. He arrived in Oslo on Monday evening and introduced himself as follows on the club’s Twitter account:

The pen stroke in the capital, which links him to VIF for three years, marks the end of a long transitional saga around the Swedish-Tunisian. It also gives you the opportunity to speak on a variety of topics. In this VG interview, he opens up about:

• How Dag-Eilev Fagermo became absolutely decisive for his move to Vålerenga.
• Why “it was for the money” in Egypt.
• How he was forced to self-train and according to himself he was proven mentally decomposed.
• The fast-paced final pack from Pyramids.
• The bitter farewell to Bodø / Glimt and the old club’s attempt to bring him back.
• Malmö interest.
• Expectations for the Vålerenga attack series.

VG makes a TV show about the transition window. In the last episode, the famous soccer journalist Fabrizio Romano is invited:

Fagermos Odd studied

The new mascot for Vålerenga fans made his breakthrough in the Eliteserien in 2019 when he delivered ten goals and eight goal assists in just 21 games for Bodø / Glimt. Even then, he made observations that would be important to his return to Norway a year and a half after leaving the country.

– Every time we met Odd with Fagermo as a coach, I thought they had a very similar style of play to Glimt. It suits me well, says Layouni.

Now Fagermo is in Vålerenga, and it was a conversation with the 53-year-old that made the difference for Layouni in the electoral process.

– It is a decisive reason why I chose VIF. I know what football he wants to play, and I have emphasized that the next time he went to a new club, he had to know exactly how they play. The Vålerenga style suits me perfectly. I quickly realized that when I spoke to Fagermo. It was a good conversation. We found the tone right away, says Layouni, who can make his debut in the match broadcast on VG + against Tromsø.

– We work with parallel tracks all the time, but the more contact Amor had with Fagermo, the more convinced he was. I could have earned a lot more in Sweden, where they have artist taxes, but I really wanted to go to Vålerenga, explains agent Michael Kallbäck, who has handled the negotiations with VIF.

Here you can see how Bernt Hulsker was sent to visit Amor Layouni:

– I went for the money

It was not the style of play that was decisive for him in September 2019 replacing Bodø with Cairo. At Pyramids FC, he received an annual salary of almost 10 million kronor, net!

– I went for the money, Layouni admits and continues:

– He was too good to just say no. I had played football my whole life without making any real money, so when I had that opportunity, I had to take it.

Interestingly, there was no success in Cleopatra’s kingdom. He had just 380 minutes of playing time for the Pyramids in the 2019/20 season and scored two goals and two assists.

– It’s a completely different continent, a completely different football, completely different people. I needed time to get into that, but you don’t have time for that there. You have to deliver now or you are done. At first it went well, but then it became “kalabalik”. The coach who picked me up was fired, they wanted to play with inner edges, which is not my thing, and then less and less playing time went away, says Layouni.

Here you can see him as humble opponents the last time he played in the Elite Series:

– it is not possible to break me

This fall, it ended like this in a clinch with Pyramids. The club wanted to get rid of him even though his contract lasted until the summer of 2022.

According to agent Kallbäck, negotiations on a final package started six months ago. Since then, according to Layouni and the agent, Pyramids has used various tools.

– Damn. They tried one thing and another, even giving him extra training on their own, but Cupid is a training product. It doesn’t scare him, says Kallbäck.

– Me and three or four others had to train on my own with a doctor and a coach. They try to mentally break the player so that he leaves, but it is not possible to break me. It was tough, especially when you don’t have your family there, you’re far away and alone, but I’ve always given 100 percent in training no matter what, Layouni says.

VG has tried to contact the head of Pyramids, Mahmoud Eid, and sent him Layouni’s statements, but has not responded to inquiries.

Watch Layounis hat trick against Lillestrøm in 2019:

Final package: 10 mill.

After many months of negotiations, Layouni and the Pyramids finally agreed on a final package in January.

According to agent Kallbäck, this is a net payment of “about NOK 10 million”. He claims that it was not relevant for Layouni to break the contract without being paid a significant sum:

– He went to Egypt to earn money. He opted out of major sporting challenges in Sweden and Denmark when he left Bodø. He has no education, he was 27 years old and had barely made money from football. So when the time came, they wanted him out, we knew it was worth it financially.

Langer to Glimt

When it became clear a few months ago that a return to Norwegian football was important, Bodø / Glimt quickly appeared on the field as a possible destination.

– There are fantastic coaches at Glimt. I have to thank you for being the player I am today: Kjetil Knutsen and Aasmund Bjørkan. Kjetil is the best coach I have ever had, Layouni begins before continuing:

– There are certain people in the club with whom I have some problems. I have tried to overcome it, but they are opposed. And if they continue like this, I don’t see any reason to think about Glimt, as long as those people are there.

– What do you put on it?

– What they did to me when I went to Pyramids, it was hard to forgive, hard to forget. I was going to leave it behind, but then they tried to get me back now. Glimt’s offer was just a mockery of all the money I’ve made for them, Layouni says.

VG has been in contact, among others, with general manager Frode Thomassen at Bodø / Glimt, but none of the club’s players wanted to comment on Layouni’s statements.

That is why he chose Malmö

Glimt and Vålerenga weren’t the only clubs in Layouni’s ball. It was also the top Swedish club Malmö FF.

– It was relevant, confirms Layouni himself.

– But I don’t think his style of play suits me. Malmö plays with wings, and if they play 4-3-3, the edges go inwards on the field. Then I won’t be able to use my strengths, he continues.

The 28-year-old quotes his compatriot Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had this to say about the use of Pep Guardiola in Barcelona’s 2009/10 season: “You bought a Ferrari, but you drove it like a Fiat.”

– I never understood that quote before, but now I do. It’s about using me the right way, says Layouni.

Dream series in VIF

And there is reason to believe that he will come to play to his strengths in a team from Vålerenga where he enters as a left back and completes a series of attacks that begin to smell burned.

There he will contribute with his speed and explosiveness, his runs on the left side where he will serve his teammates with posts, but also the ability to cut the field and finish with his more than capable right leg.

The remainder of the attacking series will likely consist of star forward Viðar Örn Kjartansson, shooting star Osame Sahraoui and dribble fan Aron Dønnum.

– Looks great. We will work to get to know each other. We will be fantastic, says Layouni.

See more Elite Series stats on VG Live.