Liverpool against Aston Villa on 18 January 2014. It was impossible to measure the excitement in a seven-year-old from Norway making his first pilgrimage to Anfield. Inside was the promise of watching his favourite player, Daniel Sturridge, and the rest of a freewheeling side throwing everything at a title push. But as Sindre Walle Egeli and his family reached the turnstiles, the cruelest of realities dawned.
“It’s not a good memory,” Walle Egeli says. “We showed up, ready to go, and it turned out we’d got fake tickets. I don’t know what happened, maybe my parents bought from some shady people. It was heartbreaking.”
English football has dealt him a kinder hand now. The 19-year-old is sitting in a makeshift meeting room at Ipswich Town’s training ground; outside loom the girders of a new complex that will transform their base next season. His move from Nordsjælland in August, the initial £17.5m fee a Championship record, was a statement of ambition from both parties. It was the pathway to Premier League football Walle Egeli had craved; Ipswich, despite stern competition, had landed one of the most sought-after prospects in Europe.
“I had a lot of different options but this is a special club,” he says. “I knew it was the toughest choice I could make – it’s probably the toughest league in the world physically – but I wanted the challenge. I know I’m going to develop a lot here.”
Why the eye-watering outlay for a player with 43 appearances in Denmark and a handful of outings in Norway’s fourth division? One answer is readily at hand. Walle Egeli has just returned from scoring the winner for Norway Under-21s in Bosnia and Herzegovina – “a scrappy one, not my favourite” – and putting another notch in the record books.
Nobody, not even Erling Haaland, has scored as many goals for the country’s age-group sides. Walle Egeli scored a six-minute hat-trick for the under-17s and made his senior debut against Kazakhstan last September at a younger age than Haaland achieved. His record is phenomenal and, taken on its own, breeds obvious comparisons.
“That’s easy when you’re scoring,” he says. “But I’m not even close to being the same player as him. Of course it’s nice to hear because he’s the best player in the world now, but I wouldn’t compare us. I don’t mind it but I’d never think: ‘OK, I’m better than Haaland.’ He’s a top finisher and there’s a lot I can learn through him.”
Besides, Walle Egeli has never been a pure centre-forward. Most of his contributions have come from a starting position on the right. A wand-like left foot, honed during a happy childhood 80 miles south of Oslo in Larvik, has been largely responsible. “It’s come naturally but also with a lot of practice,” he says. “My first football memories are of me, my brother and dad going to the nearest pitch and just shooting with my left foot.”
Their father, who passed down the Liverpool obsession, had played in Norway’s lower divisions for Fram Larvik. His brother, Vetle, is two years older and thriving with the nearby top-flight club Sandefjord. The pair played together for the under-21s last week, against Israel.
“He’s a left-back, also a good left foot, so there were a lot of battles between us,” he says. “But we know each other’s movements and I know which passes he’s good at.” Any goalscoring combinations in the under-21 team? “Should have been! He gave me a clear open goal against Wales and I missed it. He’s very mad at me.”
Walle Egeli played in Vetle’s age group from the start, learning technique had to be king against bigger, older boys. He has become a six-footer with laudable aptitude for the Championship’s endless duels. But size was less helpful when a close-knit, “quite special”, group came through at the local club Nanset.
They raced to sign up when Liverpool’s international academy gave a training camp in Larvik. “I spent three days trying to replicate Sturridge’s ‘trivela’ against Sevilla,” he says, laughing. “I was so happy once I finally got it.” It was his first time exposed to English outside an academic environment. His mother, a teacher at his school, helped make sure he stayed focused away from football.
Nowadays he is fluent, talking with self-belief that never skirts arrogance. It was important to stay grounded even when, having joined Sandefjord’s academy at 13, he found himself outshining players at least three years his senior. He had recently turned 15 when a senior debut beckoned. Playing for Sandefjord reserves against an older Teie team, Walle Egeli scored all of the game’s five goals.
“The last one was best. I got the ball from my friend Sebastian Mathisen, cut inside and then … top corner. I still remember it really well. It was probably a little bit embarrassing for them. It’s not like you could take the ball and just dribble past everyone, but I wouldn’t say the level was that good.”
Still, it hardly occurs every day. Walle Egeli continued scoring prolifically until being stopped in his tracks. He felt cast aside during his final six months Sandefjord, having decided he would leave upon turning 16.
“Once they found out I wasn’t signing the contract there, they totally froze me out,” he says. Samir Saric, a coach whose influence he cherishes, took pains to keep him engaged. “Samir was great with me. I wasn’t given a GPS vest like the other guys, things like that, but he always supported me. We’d stay after training, even after games where I played zero minutes, and work on finishing.”
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He wants to make clear there is no ill feeling towards Sandefjord, a club for which he retains deep affection. It just seemed harsh treatment for a 15-year-old trying to find his way. “It shocked me and my family, to be honest,” he says. “It was one of the hardest points of my career and I have some regrets from that time, not even being able to play football. But I have a lot of good relationships there and I’m really happy they’re doing well now.”
Nordsjælland beat PSV, FC Copenhagen and others to his signature. Their academy has a breathtaking hit rate and is feted for its pastoral care. “There’s no better place for a young player,” he says. “They really took care of me, made sure I had things to do in my spare time, gave me food, everything. They made it a lot easier. It would have been more difficult if I had gone anywhere else.”
When he burst into action last season, his first full campaign in Denmark’s Superliga, another move was inevitable. Nine goals and eight assists were a healthy return from a year in which he felt his playmaking ability kick on; two of each followed early in 2025-26 before Ipswich, who host Wrexham on Saturday, followed up their longstanding interest. He is yet to score but there is no panic. Walle Egeli likes the way, since joining Kieran McKenna’s revamped team, he has learned to take greater joy in teammates’ successes. Like a side quietly beginning to justify their status as promotion favourites, he is visibly growing with each game.
“It’s going in the right direction,” he says. “People can look at the goal tally and say it hasn’t gone that well, but those who actually watch the games would say I’m in a very good place now. I’m sure we’re going to be very successful. We have so much talent, so many good players, it’s crazy. Now we’ve had two months together to get to know each other. It can be difficult in the beginning but I feel like we’re starting to really get into the flow.”
Family never seem too far away: he loves taking feedback from his grandfather, who watches his games on repeat before calling with advice. It helps, though, that another member of Norway’s seemingly endless production line is also taking the Championship’s hard knocks. Walle Egeli and Sverre Nypan, who is on loan at Middlesbrough from Manchester City, have played for the national youth teams since under-15 level.
“He’s one of my better friends,” he says. “It’s very nice to have a mate you can talk to. We share the same thoughts about the Championship, its intensity and how tough it is. We talk before and after our games.” They also compete regularly on PlayStation games such as EAFC and Fortnite.
Both have one senior cap. Walle Egeli talks thoughtfully about the lack of real role models in Norway’s national team while he was growing up, save perhaps for Joshua King, and how the past decade’s investment in coaches and facilities is bearing spectacular fruit. There is still time to join Ståle Solbakken’s free-scoring team next summer.
“I remember 10 years ago saying I want to play in the 2026 World Cup,” he says. “Now I think I’m quite close. If I play well and do good things here, there’s a good chance.” A reunion with Haaland, who offered helpful tips during that call-up in 2024, would be welcome.
Everything, from his raw talent to the expert tutelage of McKenna, is in place for a happy resolution. Walle Egeli’s experience at Anfield had one of those. His grandparents, saddened at the sight of their loved ones returning so disconsolately, arranged tickets to the following month’s game with Swansea. This time it was for real. Liverpool won 4-3 and, to top it, Sturridge scored twice.
So what about a perfect hat-trick: promotion with Ipswich, a World Cup with Norway and a Premier League opener at the stadium that once thrilled him? “Three in a row, let’s go for it,” he says. “I think they’re in reach.”
