Lucas Bergstrom signed off a seven-year journey at Chelsea without making a senior appearance, but now he’s hungry to kickstart his career.
After getting a medal for being part of the winning Conference League squad, the 6ft 7in goalkeeper was then released and quickly found himself a new home.
He joined LaLiga outfit Mallorca this summer on a two-year deal and has already seen plenty of minutes in pre-season.
The 22-year-old from Finland was in for a bit of a culture shock, swapping the hectic streets of London for the Balearic island that is a popular tourist destination.
“I’m trying to get used to this heat. Every day it’s above 30 degrees,” he tells talkSPORT moments after stepping off the training pitch and just days away from their LaLiga opener.
“Sometimes, being from Finland, it’s a bit of a challenge, but I’m slowly getting used to it. But also off the pitch, I really enjoy being here. It’s a very nice place and very calm, and I like it.”
It’s not just the pace of life off the pitch that has taken some getting used to. He swapped a Chelsea team that had nine goalkeepers on their books last summer.
Todd Boehly’s Clearlake revolution has seen more than £1billion spent on transfers and has been a real rollercoaster ride both off and on the pitch.
“You can feel the difference in terms of the size of the club.” Bergstrom continued. “Chelsea are much more known in that way, but I think I like Mallorca compared to that way because there’s still a lot of people who care about the club and you see a lot of fans coming to games and a lot of locals.
“It’s almost like a family oriented club, I would say, which I like a lot about this place. “Obviously there’s always going to be differences with Chelsea and Mallorca, but in the end football is still football and it’s a business where you want results wherever you go. So that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Huge Barcelona test
First up for Mallorca in LaLiga is the visit of reigning champions Barcelona, who scored more than 100 goals on their way to the title.
Their frightening attack includes Robert Lewandowski and hot Ballon d’Or contender Lamine Yamal.
Barca have also added Marcus Rashford to their ranks this summer, though he has yet to be registered at the time of writing.
Mallorca’s defensive line is going to have to be at their very best to start their season on the right note.
Bergstrom said: “It’s going to be a very, very tough test for us. It’s a very strong team. You can argue it’s the best team in the league this year and we have the first game at home, so it’s going to be a tough challenge for us and we have to defend well and take our chances. But I think we’re ready.
“We had a good pre-season. We’ve played some good games. We’ve got some good results and we’ve learned what we try to do and what we want to improve. So I think we’re ready for it.”
Life at Chelsea and influences
Bergstrom joined Chelsea in 2018 from his native side TPS and worked his way up the club’s youth teams.
He was loaned to Peterborough in 2022 and made 28 appearances, keeping nine clean sheets, but returned to his parent club following Grant McCann’s sacking.
“I would have wished I would have stayed a full season there and seen what we could have done. But it’s football, it’s opinions, when you change, they want someone else in goal. So be it, you just adapt. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business.”
He was regularly named on the bench for Chelsea at the start 2023/24 season, before getting his second loan to IF Brommapojkarna.
Carlo Cudicini was the loan manager at the Blues during that time, but he cites goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts as having significant influence on his development.
Surprisingly, he also named Zlatan Ibrahimovic as one of his sporting heroes.
He said: “I never had one goalkeeper I really looked up to. I tried to look at the sort of goalkeeper’s best abilities and try to learn from that and take their best parts of their game. In terms of outfield players, I really liked Zlatan, which is kind of funny because he’s from Sweden, right? But that was one player I looked up to.
I read his book as well a long time ago and I really, really liked his story. So, and also what he’d done in big games and big moments to sort of change games. And also because he played for a national team, probably meant a little bit more.”
World Cup plans
Bergstrom has one cap for the Finland senior squad and spent this summer at the Under-21 Euros.
The 22-year-old would love to go to the 2026 World Cup with the national side, who currently top their group ahead of the Netherlands and Poland.
“Obviously I want to go into the national team and play with Finland,” the goalkeeper said. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t want to do more, but I just have to keep training here, try to get game time.
“If I play, I have to play well and then see because then if I get the call up and then I have to do well with Finland.
“Then after that, we can focus on, okay, what we want to do with Finland. But I need to be there as well, which I hope to be. I will work for it.
“As for a Finnish nation, yes, we want to go to the World Cup. It would be a major thing. Like you can see every time for Finland when we achieve something, how much it means for the fans.”
Options after leaving Chelsea
Bergstrom was released shortly after the Conference League final and there were plenty of options for the next move in his career.
There was rumoured interest from British clubs as well as teams abroad, but he admitted it was an easy decision to join Mallorca.
“There’s always interest. Then it depends on what level it comes from. But I think for me it was quite an easy decision in the end. This was the best place for me to come to improve and to learn and develop.
“I think it’s a very good step and a good path for my career to come here.”