Valon Berisha

Three days later, he made his first Serie A appearance by entering in the 85th minute of the 1–0 home win over Fiorentina in place of Ciro Immobile.

Valon Berisha (born 7 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Austrian Bundesliga club LASK and the Kosovo national team.

Born in Sweden and raised in Norway, he previously represented Norway at youth and full international level.

Berisha was born in Malmö, Sweden, to Kosovan immigrants from Podujevo, but grew up in Norway, living in Egersund, a town south of Stavanger.

He spent his early years at local club Egersunds IK.

Berisha spent three trial periods with Premier League side Chelsea between the ages of 14 and 15, whilst also spending time with Manchester City and Aston Villa.

The latter two clubs offered him a contract, both of which he turned down in favour of staying in Norway.

On 20 June 2008, at the age of just 15 years, Berisha made his senior debut for EIK against Staal Jørpeland IL in the Norwegian Third Division.

Berisha signed for Viking FK in March 2009.

He made his Tippeligaen debut against Brann on 21 March 2010, coming on for Vidar Nisja in the 85th minute.

He started twelve league appearances that season, four in the starting line-up and all on the left wing.

It was from the left that he scored his first professional goal on 31 October in a 1–1 draw against Lillestrøm.

The goal, which showcased a 20-yard in-field dribble and shot 25 yards from goal, was nominated for Tippeligaen 2010 Goal of the Season.

Berisha kept his place in the side for the season ender against Kongsvinger, where his man of the match performance inspired Viking to a 3–1 come back.

Before Tippeligaen 2011, Viking manager Åge Hareide talked up Berisha as one of the best players he had coached, and in May, he won the Statoil Talent Prize, an award handed to outstanding young Norwegian footballers each month.

Each winner is given the opportunity to donate a scholarship of 50,000 Norwegian kroner to the club he or she thought had the most importance to their development; Berisha chose to give the money to his first club, Egersunds IK.

As with 2010, one of his season's highlights was a goal scored from an almost replicate 25-yard shot against Lillestrøm on 3 July 2011.

Throughout that year, Berisha duly became a guaranteed starter for Viking, playing 88% of possible playing time.

Despite continuing to play on the left wing for most of that time, Berisha became more prominent in his favoured central attacking midfield position as the season went on, something Stig Torbjørnsen, one of Norway's most famous talent scouts, wished for prior to the season start.

On 19 June 2011, Valon and his brother Veton became the first brothers to play together for Viking in 22 years since Jan and Egil Fjetland played against Molde in the 1989 Norwegian Cup final.

Despite both moving to Viking from Egersund, it was the first time the Berisha brothers had played a senior game together.

On 15 February 2012, the day after Berisha was called up by Egil Olsen to play Northern Ireland, his agent Jim Solbakken told Stavanger Aftenblad: "We are already in talks with several clubs that have Valon Berisha high or at the very top of their list when the international transfer market opens this summer ... Now we just need to find the club that fits Berisha and who will pay a lot for him."

To this, Berisha said, "I must be much better before I am ready for the league I aim to. I see [my next club] as an intermediate step, such as in the Netherlands [in Eredivisie] which focuses on young players."

In July 2012, Berisha signed a deal with Red Bull Salzburg, joining the club at the same time as fellow Norwegian Håvard Nielsen After a brief illness, he made his debut against Admira on 18 August 2012.

He twice assisted his compatriot Nielsen, and was involved in what was his hat trick goal in a 4–4 draw.

He scored his first goal for Red Bull the next week in the 1–1 draw against Wiener Neustadt, and scored another in the 4–0 victory against Wacker Innsbruck on 1 September.

Of his 27 Goals for Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga 14 of those strikes have come from outside of the box.

During the 2017–18 season Salzburg had their best ever European campaign.

They finished top of their Europa League group, for a record fourth time, before beating Real Sociedad and Borussia Dortmund thus making their first ever appearance in the UEFA Europa League semi-final.

On 3 May 2018, he played in the Europa League semi-finals as Olympique de Marseille played out a 1–2 away loss but a 3–2 aggregate win to secure a place in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final

On 3 July 2018, Berisha joined Serie A side Lazio, on a five-year contract.

Lazio reportedly paid a €7.5 million transfer fee.

On 4 October 2018, he made his debut with Lazio in the group stage of 2018–19 UEFA Europa League against the German side Eintracht Frankfurt after coming on as a substitute at 64th minute in place of Sergej Milinković-Savić.

On 30 January 2020, Berisha joined Bundesliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf, on a six-month-long loan.

Two days later, he made his debut in a 1–1 home draw against Eintracht Frankfurt after being named in the starting line-up.

On 9 July 2020, Berisha signed a four-year contract with Ligue 1 club Reims and receiving squad number 14.

Reims reportedly paid a €5 million transfer fee.

On 23 August 2020, he made his debut in a 2–2 away draw against Monaco after coming on as a substitute at 56th minute in place of Dereck Kutesa.

On 7, September, 2022, Berisha was sent on a one-year loan to Australian club Melbourne City in the A-League.

He received the number 14 ahead of the season.