Exclusive Interview with Tore André Flo: Insights on the Club World Cup, Premier League and Scottish Football

Last updated: 17 June 2025 by Leon Marshall

Tore André Flo, the former Chelsea and Norway striker, joins the Best Betting Sites team to share his thoughts ahead of the Club World Cup. In this exclusive interview, Flo discusses which teams to watch and reflects on players like Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard. He also comments on Chelsea’s transfer strategy, Liam Delap’s prospects, the resurgence of Sunderland and Birmingham, and the Premier League potential of stars like Jørgen Strand Larsen and Sverre Nypan. Read on for his full insights across the world of football, including his view on Rangers, Celtic, and the SPL.

Club World Cup Preview

Who do you think will win the Club World Cup?

I think that PSG would be a natural choice. I think when you saw what they did in the Champions League, that was incredible. So they are definitely in great form. But it’s hard to say. I would say that Flamengo, also, are a team that might be able to pull off a surprise and do something good at the tournament.

I think the South American teams are looking to take this as an opportunity. I think if any team from outside Europe will do well, it will be Flamengo, and it’ll be exciting if someone from outside Europe can do well.

What do you make of the Club World Cup as a tournament?

I think it can be a great tournament. I know some people who work at FIFA and they really want to make it work. I think it would be fantastic to have a club tournament on a world stage, and it would be very nice if all of the teams took it seriously.

But there is a job to do for FIFA, I think, and they are trying really hard to make this work. I think the only problem is that in the domestic leagues they are so filled up already. So there’s a lot of matches already for clubs, and national matches when there’s no domestic league matches. So it’s a lot. But I think it could work. It might take a little bit of time, but I think we will see now that it’s growing.

With the first PSG game, I got the sense that it was almost played at pre-season pace, but you get the feeling they’re taking it seriously. I think maybe outside Europe, they’re taking it more seriously as a tournament.

I think some European sides are using it more as their pre-season,  but some individual players will be looking to stake their claim and shine.

Is the Club World Cup going to harm Norway’s international chances by exhausting Erling Haaland after coming back from injury?

Yeah, it’s a risk for Erling, and all the top players. It’s a fact that the best players in the world, the elite players, are probably playing a little bit too much football.

I’ve seen it’s been mentioned in the media here in Norway. Even the Norwegian national coach mentioned that it’s too many games for these top players. At the same time, I think clubs like Manchester City and Arsenal and all those clubs, have great people working for them to monitor them and see how they are. There is always a danger of injuries, but at the same time, these are top athletes, they are trained really well, and have the best medical people around them. So of course there is a danger, but I wouldn’t say that it’s sure that this is a bad thing for them to do.

I think it’s nice for us to watch it and I’m sure they need to be aware of it. And I’m sure people at Man City and clubs like this are monitoring them really carefully. I think that the players are also going to be taken off the pitch before the end of the 90 minutes, as they sometimes are in the league season, to make sure they don’t overdo it before the new season.

And with some of these clubs, their squads are huge, so they can rotate if they think they need to.

Will Chelsea’s US owners want them to succeed at the CWC?

Absolutely. I’m sure that the American owners will be excited about this tournament. They want to show America that Chelsea is a good side. So I think they will push it from their side, and then we’ll see how good Chelsea are. At the moment. I think they finished really strong in the Premier League, so, yeah, I think they could get up there and fight for the title.

Arsenal and Norwegian Talent

There have been questions raised about Martin Odegaard’s suitability to captain Arsenal this season. Do you think he is the right man?

I know Martin Odegaard quite a bit. I worked with the Norwegian under-21 team when he played there and to me he is the best professional boy I’ve ever worked with. He is someone who’s individually extremely good, but he’s playing for the team. Yeah, I think that is, that’s something special. You don’t see that very often.

I think Arsenal, they came second in the Premier League. He was the captain, and yes, he had a little bit of an up- and-down season maybe, but all in all, I think he’s doing really well. I think Arsenal is doing really well. They’ve been second in the Premier League for the last three seasons. But for Martin Odegaard,, he’s one of those I admire the most in modern football at the moment.

And for Norway, he’s been brilliant lately. So I hope Arsenal stick with him, and I’m sure they would benefit from that.

Sunderland and the Promoted Clubs

Sunderland are a giant club. How pleased are you to see Premier League football back in that part of the world?

I am very pleased. I’m mostly pleased for the club and the supporters because as you said, there’s not many places where the supporters are so emotionally connected to the team. I saw the playoff games. That was the most exciting play-off I’ve ever seen.

How they scored in injury time in some of those games, and they fought really well. They didn’t go directly up, but still managed to come up. I’m very pleased for them and glad they came up. And then from now on, there’s a big job to do, I think, because the step is very big to get up to the Premier League. But they have done this before. They’ve been there, they have the fan base, they have the stadium, they have the support.  And yeah, I think they can do it.

It’s a huge boost to go up through the play-offs, but what will next season bring for Sunderland? Isi it going to be like the previous years for promoted clubs in terms of relegation straight away?

It’s been very hard, because in the last couple of seasons, all three of the promoted sides have gone straight back down.  But I do have that feeling that this season could be very different. You have two very big clubs in Leeds and Sunderland and you’ve got Burnley, who played really good football under Scott Parker.

At the very least, I don’t think it will be decided as early as it was this season. I think all these three clubs have a great chance of staying up, I really do. And especially for clubs the size of Leeds and Sunderland. They know what they need to do, and Burnley has got quite a bit of experience to be up there as well. So it’s three good clubs that have come up. I think between Leeds and Burnley, it was just goal difference, a very tight finish.

I get the feeling that this could be the year where at least two of the three clubs stay up.

Leeds and Jamie Vardy

Would you say Jamie Vardy is the right player to sign for next season given his experience?

I do like Jamie Vardy. I think he’s a striker who’s always on the move, always pressing straight towards goal, and he’s got the speed and he definitely got the experience. So I really like him and I think it could be a good move. The question mark will be that, will he get a bit slower now that he’s getting older? He’s 38 now, but I think last season he showed that he’s still sharp. I think Leeds need some experience brought into the dressing room. So, yeah, I think it could be a good one.

If there is an opportunity to get him, and Vardy seems up for the challenge, then I think Leeds would be a good place for him.

I can imagine Vardy and the Leeds fans getting on quite well.

Birmingham and Championship Prospects

Can Birmingham City do a double promotion?

Yeah.  Yes. It seems like if you get yourself going, it seems like things take care of themselves in a way. Games come so quickly, you just feel like you’re winning every time. That’s what they need to get into.

Can Jay Stansfield be the top scorer in the Championship next season?

I think he can do really well. I think he’s a great talent and yeah, I see no reason why he can’t succeed. I think he can repeat his goalscoring feats of last season in the Championship.

He’s a great player, he’s got confidence. So he won’t be worried about the challenge, he’ll be looking forward to it. But we all know that it’s a step up. Of course, when you go up to the Championship, it’s one of the toughest leagues in the world, both physically and mentally.

The important thing in that league is to get into a good run. Then if you are a good player like he is, for example, and you’ve got that confidence, then suddenly a lot of goals can come, and it’s just easier to play well in those circumstances. You get into that run, and you try to stay fit. I think Birmingham will do well next season, I think they can be up challenging towards the top of the table.

Chelsea’s Squad and Transfers

As a former Blues striker, how much pressure will Liam Delap be under?

It’s the same at every big club when they buy a new striker, the pressure is on from the start. But at the same time, they had Nicolas Jackson who did very well as the first choice last season.

So I think it’s a situation where the two will know they’re going to be sharing the playing time. I think the manager will use pre-season and the Club World Cup to make up his mind, and give them both a chance to stake their claim.

I think the problem last year was that Jackson did well. He did well, but when he was a bit out of form they didn’t have that other striker to take over. I feel almost like they could share a bit of the pressure now.

But obviously Delap would come in and have expectations on him, that’s for sure. But I also think there’s a good striker in Jackson.

He’s developing and he can do well. I think it could be good for him to have this competition. So I’m excited to see who’s going to push on.

What have you made of Chelsea’s transfer so far this summer and are there any other players you like to join Stamford Bridge this summer?

I was like everybody else in that I expected a striker and maybe a central defender. But then towards the end of the season the central defence did really well, and seemed to get a lot better, so that might not be as high a priority. The goalkeeping places have been mentioned a lot, too.

I think we’ve seen over the last few years, maybe Chelsea have been looking at young, promising talents and I think if you’re not following football very carefully you haven’t heard of players like Willian Estevao. But he’s very exciting. They expect a lot from him, but they have lots of players that I’m not too aware of, but it’s exciting that they’re working hard to find and develop the best young talent.

I guess if it doesn’t work, they’ll be criticised from here to the moon, but if it works, they will be hailed as geniuses.

Liam Delap has been likened to Diego Costa by some pundits. As a former striker yourself, can you judge whether he could have the same level of success as the Spaniard at Stamford Bridge? What are Delap’s strengths/weaknesses?

Yeah, I think it’s a little bit difficult to say in a way, because he’s got all kinds of qualities. He is quick, he’s got good technique, he’s got power and he’s got clever movement. But then I was looking at Ipswich and I was thinking, is the gap a little bit too big? But I think he’s got some things that Nicholas Jackson doesn’t have.

And that could be a very smart move from Chelsea. Now they have a few different types of players. I think Jackson is very quick, direct, while Delap could be smart in his movements, be in the right place at the right time. It remains to be seen if he can withstand those comparisons with Diego Costa,  but I think to me it looks like a very smart move by Chelsea.  He’s done well. He’s in form. He’s up and coming. Yeah, it will be exciting to see him at Stamford Bridge next season.

I think that’s a good sign as well. The coach knows him from when he was a younger guy at Man City, when he was coming through there. I think he’s got all the makings of the kind of player to make it a successful move. That’s the big question, isn’t it? It’s whether or not he can handle the pressure that goes with being the main man at Chelsea or being one of them.

Premier League Prospects

How do you think Jorgen Strand Larsen will do in the Premier League next season?

I think with him you will get someone who over time, he will perform well. He will also do everything for the team. He is one of those who were with the under-21 when Odegaard played for them as well.

A really great boy. He’s lively, he’s funny, he’s always positive and he will do a good job. From what I see of him, he never has these really long spells where he doesn’t play well. He seems to just perform quite well all the time. And yes, I think he will at least have as good a season next season as he did this year.

He’s not maybe one of those strikers who will score 30 goals, but I think he could get close to 20, which is quite good in the Premier League.

I think if he’s going to score more than 20, maybe he needs to play for one of the biggest teams in the league. It woul;dn’t surprise me at all if some of the big boys come knocking for him if he has another successful season at Wolves.

Do you think Sverre Nypan is capable of making it into the first team at the Etihad?

There’s a lot of talk about him and he’s a very good boy. He’s young, but he’s professional. He says the right things. He seems to train really well. Everybody loves him. I thought maybe he would take a step elsewhere before the big step up to Manchester City.

And he probably will be loaned out, which I think could work out really well. And I think that’s the way the big clubs do it now because maybe the gap is probably too big to go straight to City from Rosenborg. So Girona could be a good, good choice for him if we believe the reports in the papers, and it makes sense because they are part of the City Football Group.

In Norway, we believe that he could be a really good one. But there are some other exciting Norwegian players coming through. Antonio Nusa, who’s at Leipzig, he’s been very good with the national team. I thought maybe big clubs would be looking at him for this window.

Alexander Sorloth, obviously he’s at a big club, but I thought maybe some English club would go for him.

If there’s one other player in Norway I would mention, its Marius Broholm. He plays for Rosenborg. He is a little bit of a smaller player, left footed, but very quick and fun to watch. I’m very excited when I watch him play. He’s quite young, but he’s a couple of years older than Nypan.

Rangers and Scottish Football

Are Rangers mad to be considering selling Cyriel Dessers after he scored 28 goals last season (he’s still unloved by fans)?

I speak to quite a few Rangers supporters throughout the season, and they seem to be a little bit frustrated over him. Then suddenly he scores and he’s playing well.

But in general, it seems like he needs a lot of chances to score. He gets a lot of chances but misses quite a lot. I think it’s a difficult question to say whether he should go. It sounds a bit harsh.

At the same time, I think a lot of the supporters feel that someone else could maybe do an even better job there, that Rangers could have a possibility to sign even better players. But in this situation, it’s really hard to ever think a team should sell a player who is scoring that many goals. But that’s the nature of football. You can score goals and fans still don’t think you’re any good (laughs)!

Do Rangers need to spend big like Dick Advoccat to wrestle power back from Celtic?

I think it is a bit of both. I think they obviously need to invest in the squad, but they also need to develop a style of football and identity under the new coach.  There’s no doubt that if you buy good players, you’ll have a good chance to do well in the league. So I think the supporters would like to see some players that they know are very good, so they would have a chance. I do think that the new manager is very exciting.

I know that a lot of supporters wanted Steven Gerrard and that would have been great, but I think with this guy, with Russell Martin, I like him, I like the way his teams played football.

It would be something a bit new in Scotland and I think if they get going, start well, he could be a very good thing for Rangers.

Could Russell Martin’s attack minded style of football have the same sort of impact that Ange had during his time at Celtic – given oppositions aren’t used to playing against a team with that approach within the SPL?

I think Russell Martin deserves credit for sticking to his principles. But if he wants to do that at Rangers and succeed, then you need the right players for his style as well. And if Rangers could get that in, with his playing style, I think they could be very good and challenge Celtic.

I think it could work. And I think it’s something new and I think if the players buy into it, if they understand it, and do it the right way, I think it could be an exciting surprise for Rangers and for Scottish football. And you will see offensive, good football that will excite the supporters, at least. I like that style. And I heard him say that he wanted to play with his team, and to play the way that he’d like to play football himself, and I like that attitude.

Can Rangers challenge for the SPL title next season?

Yes, I really think so. You know, Rangers is a very big club. With all the passion from the supporters and all that. So if they get going, they could be really good quite quickly. I know the gap was quite big and it maybe has been for the last few seasons, but Rangers will get back up there again. Rangers will win the league soon and it could already be next season.

Celtic and Kieran Tierney

Do you think Kieran Tierney can get back to his best?

You can never be sure. I don’t think it’s possible to predict how this goes exactly, but Kieran Tierney, he’s a very good player. But he’s been struggling a lot with injuries, hasn’t he? And sometimes then it could be good to take a step back. He would know what he is going into by going back to Celtic.

The Team Behind This Interview

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