Karl Hein has been named Estonia’s Young Player of the Year after impressing between the sticks for his country.
The 19-year-old first came to prominence at international level in late 2020 when he picked up the man-of-the-match award on his debut in a 1-0 UEFA Nations League defeat to Georgia and he’s made 11 further appearances, including clean sheets in World Cup qualifiers with Wales and Belarus.
After featuring for the Arsenal first team in pre-season against Hibernian, Hein signed a new contract at the Emirates in September and was on the bench for the Premier League defeat at Brentford and the League Cup win over Wimbledon.
Should Bernd Leno leave next summer, Hein and Arthur Okonkwo, who was promoted to the first team in the summer, will be angling to be the club’s second choice keeper behind Aaron Ramsdale.
First, Hein has to recover from injury. He’s been sidelined since mid-November and isn’t expected to be back in action until January.
Congratulations to Karl, who appears to have won €300 as part of the prize, and best of luck with the recovery.
Impressive resume already for a19 year old! Looking forward to seeing him in action for the first team. Congratulations, Karl! Onwards and upwards….
Its interesting they have awarded €300. I would have thought that would be very small change for most if the contenders at this level?
Estonia, not Monaco. Or the Emirates.
That’s just the gift card from Nike. He also received a prize from the Olympic Committee. The article doesn’t mention how much though.
My thoughts exactly. A very big cheque for a relatively small number
It is a gift card from a sponsor, he apparently got money from the Estonian Olympic Committee as well. Couldn’t find out how much, though, but it is not likely to blow your mind. As for the amount, while it is possible to make a living from sports, most pro footballers in Estonia don’t earn much and some have another job or side hustle. Younger players also quit football for corporate jobs which pay much more.
It’s interesting to look more widely at other sports: Estonian Anett Kontaveit has earned almost $2 million this year from prize money alone.
Yup, she is world-class. Ott Tänak and Jüri Vips are doing well in motorsports as well, and Ragnar Klavan has had a good international career. But if you are not good enough to break out to the world it’s not very lucrative here.
With all due respect for Leno it seems his Arsenal career is over. Heinz is the obvious under study to Ramsdale and will be usurping Leno as our no.2 imminently.
57 reasons why he should be number 2 keeper
I zed the same thing.
No disrespect to this major trophy but where is the podcast???
Should ask for your money back…
If Leno leaves, are Hein and/or Okwonko at the level required to be #2?
I haven’t caught any U23 games this season except highlights so pardon my ignorance.
Bear in mind we should be planning on the provision that we will be back in Europe next season.
I don’t think either Okonkwo or Hein are ready to play as second keeper in the first team. They both only played U23 games so far. Hein had a few of matches for the Estonia national team, but he’s not first choice. He was not even called for the last two qualifiers. Okonkwo started a match in pre-season this year, but he had howler that gifted Hibernian their first goal.Both of them should go on loan first. Martinez had been on loan for seven years before getting his change two year ago…
In HEINsight, he was always going to win this.
🙂
Captain Heinsight?🤔
I’m from Lithuania and can say only one thing. Football level in Baltics is very poor. So much that almost nobody gives a shit about this sport. Which says nothing about Hein’s quality tho but you can know nothing from these awards.
It’s all about Sabonis and Kristaps!
What sports do you guys like in the Baltics out of interest, if not football?
Basketball is pretty big and if someone breaks through to the big leagues in any sport (mostly individual) we like those/them too. WRC has a big following right now in Estonia for example because of Ott Tänak. Lithuania has a very strong basketball team Kaunas Zalgiris.
Congrats Karl.
Would be better to send Hein for a couple of years regular senior football on loan, and make a Matt Ryanesque signing to be our no. 2 for a while Before we even get to whether Hein is reliable enough to be no. 2 right now, it’s much better for his development to start regularly in League 1, 2 or even lower than sporadic appearances for us in the cups. For GKs developing the ability to be consistently calm and decisive under pressure is just as important as their technical and physical abilities, and that can be learned at probably… Read more »
Congrats, Hein. Continue to soar to greater heights.