Today in the midst of no transfer talk nor links to players of any real meaning we take a look via one of our Swedish sources on Melker Widell and his sporting family. A report we are sure many will find of interest.
Swansea's new signing Melker Widell is from Landskrona, Skåne on the south west coast of Sweden. In his first year with AaB Aalborg Melker was voted Player of the Season 2023/2024. Will Melker be Swansea City Player of the season 2025/2026? We'll have to wait and see, as will Franco!
How quickly did the move come about?
Melker told Bold "My agent told me that the clubs had agreed. I had no idea. It went from zero to 100 in a split second". Widell, who has been tracked by clubs in the Premier League, Bundesliga and Serie A, quickly found himself in London for a medical and signed shortly afterwards on a deal running until the summer of 2029. Shortly afterwards the then Swedish Under 21 international was on his way to fly to Wales to visit Swansea. Widell got a phone call from Swedish National Coach John Dahl Tomasson at Copenhagen Airport. This meant Melker instead joined up with the Swedish national team to replace 19 year old Spurs midfielder Lucas Bergvall who had fallen ill. In doing so Melker fullfilled his and one of every footballers dreams. Not bad replacing Bergvall, a player who has recently accepted a new 7 year contract with Spurs.Mellker Widell made his international debut for the team nicknamed "Blågult"(Blue yellow - after the colours of their cross flag) coming on as a 86th minute substitute in Sweden's 5-1 win against Northern Ireland on 25 march 2025.
Melkers' favourite club is Manchester United
"I've been thinking that English football is the best there is. The dream is to reach there one day. Manchester United is my favourite team, but the most important thing is to come to a fun club that plays good football." (Tribalfotball)
As part of the deal to bring him to Swansea, Widell was loaned back to current club Aab in North Jutland, Denmark until the end of June 2025. The Swedish midfielder will join up with Swansea this July with his fellow compatriot and another new signing Zeidane Inoussa from Häcken who play in Sweden's highest division the "Allsvenskan". Melker is very much looking forward to playing for the Swans and told Swansea's website "It's going to be fantastic. I'm super excited and happy to sign for Swansea."
Magic Michu still magically influential
Melker added "I've known about the club since I was a kid. There were some iconic Swansea players. When we were kids we used to run around and copy Michu's celebration scene." Let's see if he uses this celebration at Swansea ! We've had the Three Amigos, but how about the Three M's - Michu, Modric and Melker?
It goes to show that long after a player has departed, that they can still influence future signings as Michu did on Melker. If we turn to think that Modric is now part of Swansea, no matter what the future holds, the Swans legends, as well as Modric, the most decorated player in Real Madrid history, will influence signings for a long time to come. Will Melker possibly be the next influencer?
⚽️ Ball sports family
Melker has a sister Maja, 20 who plays Floorball which is a popular sport in Sweden. Maja has played for the Falcons woman team in division 2, as well as HSK and is studying Service Management, Retail at the prestigious Lund University which is in the top 100 universities in the world and 3rd in the Sustainability world rankings and most popular in Sweden for International Students and the highest ranked comprehensive university in Sweden and 9th in the QS World University Rankings: Europe (2024).
Melker's younger brother Casper, 22, as some of you may know, is also a footballer, playing as a defender in the Netherlands for Rotterdam based side Excelsior who recently got promoted to the Eredivisie, the Dutch top division. Casper Widell began his football journey with local club IK Wormo. Initially a striker, he transitioned to midfield before joining Helsingborgs IF academy in 2016, where he was converted to a centre-back. progressed through Helsingborg's youth ranks and made his professional debut in June 2020, against Varbergs BoIS in the Allsvenskan. Despite the team's relegation that season, he extended his contract with Helsingborg until 2023. In July 2023, Widell signed with Excelsior. As of May 13, 2025, he has made 65 appearances and scored 5 goals for the club across all competitions. In the 2024/2025 season, he played in 32 matches and scored 1 goal.Widell has also represented Sweden at various youth international levels, including the under-15, under-16 (captaining the team), under-17 (also captaining), under-19, under-20, and under-21 national teams. He has one goal for the under-21 team in 12 appearances as of October 15, 2024.
While the Widell siblings' father Mikael (Micke) 55 years old, played in the Swedish lower divisions, firstly as an outfield player for IK Wormo then as his preferred position of Goalkeeper for many years for both BoIS where he reached the DM final. At the same time, Mikael was selected for the Skåne team and then on to the elite boys' camp in Halmstad where they beat Hammarby in the final of the Florida Cup and Mikael was named player of the match. He also played for many years for BK Landorna. Micke played from 2011 to 2916 reaching the third division, Southwest Götaland. Micke has also played in cups in Belgium, Monaco, the USA and several in the Netherlands and Denmark. bklandora.se. Mikaels sons' followed in his footsteps and also played as young boys for BK Landorna before progressing on to IK Wormo and then their respective breakthrough moves to Helsingborgs IF (Casper) and Malmö FF which Melker joined from LB07 Malmö. and then onwards to their clubs named here. However, their father puts the boys positive attitude not down to him but to their mother Linda, 49. A true supportive family.
So just like the Inoussa family (read the article via the link below), the Melkers are also a sporting family. Now they are welcomed into to the Swansea City fold. Let's hope they make a success with their new family here too, with the Jackarmy's support.
Sven has also written this report below.