At 6ft 6in, Lukas Jensen is a big man with big ambitions – having not, it is fair to say, taken the conventional route to Carlisle United.
Goalkeeper Jensen is a 22-year-old Dane on loan in Cumbria from Burnley, via spells with Bolton and in Iceland – and, as he recounted with a smile, a three-year period in his teens when he ditched football for something totally different.
The period when Jensen put his gloves and ball away and opted for mountain biking is not one of those Wikipedia lines which turns out to be a creative myth. It’s entirely true and forms an interesting layer to the story of the young player now on United’s books.
“It’s true,” he said. “I actually stopped playing football when I was 14, to do mountain biking. I got really good at it.”
Jensen made it to Scandinavian and European championships on two wheels. But eventually the call of football was too strong to resist.
“I just missed the connection you have with both the fans and the team spirit you have when you play football,” he said. “When you ride mountain bikes it’s single work, all the time, and you don’t have the same team spirit.
“I missed that, so I started playing football again when I was 16-and-a-half to 17. When you haven’t played football for three years…you kind of have to start again at that point if you want to live in the football world, which is what I wanted.
“All my friends said, ‘Now you have to do it’, and my family as well. I just risked starting playing football again to see if I had the same passion.
“I had a coach that took all the passion away from the young players, because I was moved into the first team [in Denmark] when I was 14, so that didn’t help me. That’s why I took some time away from football and started doing mountain bike.
“When I grew up a little bit, got older…it was easier to come back.”
It is hard, when watching Jensen’s large frame between United’s posts, to imagine him tearing around off-road terrain on two wheels, and that aspect of his story is now in the past as he bids to forge a positive goalkeeping career in England.
After starting with home-town club Helsingor, Jensen was picked up Burnley two years ago. He has featured for the Premier League club’s Under-23s, whilst making a loan move to Bolton last season which brought no appearances, and a further move to Icelandic club Kordrengir in May, which gave him a first-team run and led to his season-long move to the Blues.
Saturday’s friendly with Blackpool was his Brunton Park debut and Jensen was a composed and interesting interviewee afterwards.
On his journey so far, he said: “I got one game in the best Danish league when I was young, I moved down the ranks to play more games, and then I got the opportunity to come to Burnley, and I said why not?
“I had just finished high school, so I had the time to do it and wanted to give it a shot. I had the trial and they liked me. I spent the first year playing for the 23s and then of course Covid came and messed it up a little bit. I went on loan to Bolton and then Iceland, and now I’m here, to play a lot of games.”
Moving to England was a major moment for the young keeper. “It was a very big step. I always said England is the best country to play football in, especially if you look at how many professional leagues you have, and then you have all the semi-professional leagues. In Denmark we have one-and-a-half, maybe two now. So it’s very different.
“To come to England and play football here is what I’ve dreamed about. It’s a childhood dream I’m living at the moment. Hopefully it can be even bigger.”
Jensen, who was awarded a new two-year deal at Turf Moor before sealing his Carlisle move, has been able to learn from a string of top-class keepers over the last two years in east Lancashire.
“If you just look at the history of the goalkeepers who’ve been at Burnley it’s quite some names,” he said. “When I first came there it was a bit overwhelming I would say, to be in and around Joe Hart, Tom Heaton, Nick Pope…[but] they’ve been great to me.
“They’ve been like mentors, all of them, with what I could learn from them and what they’ve taught me throughout the season. It’s been really great being at Burnley.”
Jensen felt he was “unlucky” not to play any games at Bolton, where senior No1 Matt Gilks helped the Trotters to League Two promotion. “It was a weird loan, I would say. I won’t lie, I didn’t get as many minutes in the legs as I wanted to, but being in a promotion squad is a good experience in itself. We came from the bottom and we worked our way up, so going through all of that was very valuable for me. Hopefully we can do it again here this season.”
Jensen said he was keen to go to Iceland when the opportunity arose two months ago, “to play games, to really show that I can still play football, and play a lot of games. I played seven games, and we were undefeated, that was a good start to pre-season.
“A pre-season in Iceland isn’t the same as it is in England, though, I would say. There’s more pressure over here, which I like, and there are more fans coming to the games. I used my time in Iceland as a warm-up to pre-season because I knew I could come here and then start to focus on the work I had to do here.”
Jensen will compete with Magnus Norman to be United’s No1, while teenagers Gabe Breeze and Scott Simons are rising through the ranks. The Burnley man hopes his first senior appearance in English football is not too far away.
“It’s very different from youth football,” he added. “In the youth game it’s about development, but when you come to League Two, League One, or wherever, there’s something on the line in every game. If you make a mistake it costs points and goals, and it hurts the team, so having that pressure helps you to perform at a higher level. I like playing in front of a big crowd when it’s like that, so it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.
“The football is a little bit similar to Burnley, and it’s probably a mixture of what I did in Iceland and at Burnley. I think it will benefit me that I’ve been used to playing that type of football, and I’m comfortable if we want to play out or go long. I know League Two is physically, especially on set pieces, but I think that’s something I’ll benefit from.”
Jensen has imposing size but says he has varied attributes. “I’m 6ft 6in, but I’m quite flexible for my size; sometimes people think bigger goalkeepers are a bit stiff. I like to use my size on crosses and corners, that will always be a strength for me because I’m so tall. I like to shout at my defenders as well, so I think I’m a good communicator which will hopefully help the whole team.”
United have three remaining pre-season games before the big kick-off on August 7. Norman, who made his first friendly appearance in Saturday’s second half, will surely be heavily involved, but Jensen is both happy and hopeful about what 2021/22 has in store.
“It’s been very fun so far,” he said. “I’d say it is a dream coming true playing over here. If I look back four or five years ago I never thought I would be here – going from not playing football, to signing a Premier League club and now being at a League Two club that really want to play for promotion. That’s quite something.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here