Valon Berisha

Source Lazio Wiki

Valon Berisha was born in Malmö in Sweden on 7 February, 1993.

His parents are Albanian Kosovars and he is Kosavar too but also has Norwegian citizenship.

He grew up in Norway in Egersund near Stavanger. He started playing football for Egersund and after ten years in the youth setup he joined the first team squad in 2008.

He played one season for the Yellow and Blacks in the 2nd tier of Norwegian football, making 31 league appearances with 11 goals.

He was noticed by nearby Viking Stavanger in the top flight and joined "Di mørkeblå" (Dark Blues) in 2010 and stayed two seasons. He played 56 league games and scored 4 goals. Viking finished 9th and 11th. At Viking he also played alongside his younger brother, Veton.

In 2012 he joined Salzburg in Austria. He stayed six seasons, winning the Bundesliga five times and the Austrian Cup four times. He played 233 games and scored 45 goals. He played alongside some future top players such as Sadio Mané, Takumi Minamino, Marcel Sabitzer, Dayot Upamecano and Dominik Szoboszlai. In 2018 Salzburg played Lazio in the Europa League and Berisha played so well that the Romans signed him for the next season.

In Rome however, he was not a great success. The manager was Simone Inzaghi and in 2018-19 Berisha only played 8 league games, 1 in Coppa Italia and 5 in the Europa League. Lazio finished 8th (EL) but won the Coppa Italia.

The following year he only stayed until January, playing 3 more league games, 1 in Coppa Italia and 4 in the Europa League. He stayed long enough however to win the Italian Supercoppa in December as Lazio beat Juventus 3-1.

In January 2020 he joined Fortuna Düsseldorf on loan in the German Bundesliga. It was the COVID-19 year and he played 9 league games. The "F95" finished 17th and were relegated.

In the summer of 2020 he joined Stade Reims in Ligue 1. He stayed two seasons and Les Rouges et Blancs finished 14th and 12th. He played 41 games and scored 1 goal. Towards the end of his experience he was demoted to the Stades Reims 2 side. One of his teammates in the top side was future Lazio, Boulaye Dia.

In 2022 he went to Australia and joined Melbourne City in the A-League. He played 24 games and scored 1 goal. The club of the Manchester City owners finished 2nd.

In 2024 he came back to Europe and joined LASK in Austria.

At international level he played for Norway at various levels, U15s (4 games), U16s (10 games, 2 goals), U17s (8 games), U18s (7 games), U19s (8 games), U21s (18 games, 3 goals) right up to the top Norwegian team where he won 20 caps.

In 2016 he switched to represent Kosovo and he has 49 caps with 4 goals.

Berisha is a central midfielder but can also play further forward. He is a dynamic and physical player who can attack and defend. He has technique and is also good at taking freekicks and penalties.

At Lazio he was a disappointment. As an opponent he had looked like an excellent box to box midfielder but in Rome he never showed the same quality. He will be remembered as one of the signings that did not work out.

Lazio career

Season	Total appearances	Serie A	Coppa Italia	Europa League
2018-19	14	8	1	5
2019-20	8	3	1	4
Total	22	11	2	9

Sources

Wikipedia