Aapo Halme

Aapo Ilmari Halme (born 22 May 1998) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for English EFL Championship club Barnsley. He also represents the Finland national under-21 football team.[4] Halme was born in Helsinki, Finland. He began his senior club career playing for Honka, before signing with HJK Helsinki at age 17 in 2015.[5]

Aapo Halme
Personal information
Full name Aapo Ilmari Halme[1]
Date of birth (1998-05-22) 22 May 1998
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Position(s) Centre-back
Club information
Current team
 Barnsley
Number 24
Youth career
2009–2015 Honka
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014–2015[3] Honka 1 (0)
2015 Klubi-04 15 (1)
2015–2018 HJK Helsinki 29 (0)
2018–2019 Leeds United 4 (0)
2019– Barnsley 32 (4)
National team‡
2013–2014 Finland U16 5 (0)
2014 Finland U17 10 (1)
2015–2016 Finland U18 6 (0)
2015–2017 Finland U19 7 (0)
2017– Finland U21 15 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 July 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13:00, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

Early career

Halme started his youth career at FC Honka, making 1 senior appearance before joining Klubi-04, where he made 15 appearances and scored 1 goal.

HJK Helsinki

The winners of the 2015 Finnish League Cup HJK Helsinki brought in Halme from Klubi-04 on a 3-year deal expiring at the end of the 2018 season as stated in his contractual obligation.[6][7][8] He made 29 league appearances, over three seasons with the club, scoring 1 goal.

Leeds United

On 3 January 2018, Halme signed for Leeds United from Finnish side HJK Helsinki on a four-year contract for an unknown fee,[9] reported to be less than £500,000. He became the fourth Finnish player to sign for Leeds after Sebastian Sorsa, Mika Väyrynen and Mikael Forssell.[10]

However, Halme picked up a serious foot injury during one of his first training sessions at Leeds in January, the injury ruled him out for the remainder of the season.[11] After nearly nine months out injured, on 27 August 2018, Halme made his first appearance for the club representing Leeds Under 23's against Queens Park Rangers' Development squad.[12]

On 23 November 2018, Leeds First Team Head Coach Marcelo Bielsa gave Halme special praise after returning from his long injury layoff.[13] He made his debut on 24 November 2018 in the EFL Championship against Bristol City in a 2–0 win, after being named in the starting lineup after an injury to Pontus Jansson and long-term injuries to Luke Ayling and Gaetano Berardi.[14]

He scored his first goal for Leeds on 6 January 2019 during a 2–1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the third round of the FA Cup.[15]

Halme was regularly named as an unused substitute on the bench for the 1st team squad in the Championship, but still featured regularly for Carlos Corberán's Leeds United under 23's side over the course of the 2018/19 season [16] that won the PDL Northern League 2018/19 Season by winning the league, they then became the national Professional Development League Champions by beating Birmingham City in the final.[17]

Barnsley

On 3 July, Halme joined EFL Championship club Barnsley for an undisclosed fee from Leeds United.[18] He scored his first goal for Barnsley in a 2–2 draw with Derby County on 2 October 2019.[19]

International career

Halme has represented Finland U16's, Finland U17's, Finland U18's and Finland U19's.

He made his debut for Finland U21's on 8 June 2017 against Ukraine U21's.

On 23 March 2019, Halme Captained Finland U21 to an impressive 8–3 victory against Norway U21's.[20]

Career statistics
As of match played 19 July 2020[21]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Honka 2014 Veikkausliiga 1000000010
Klubi-04 2015 Kakkonen 151000000151
HJK Helsinki 2015 Veikkausliiga 2000000020
2016 Veikkausliiga 140102010180
2017 Veikkausliiga 130100010150
Total 290202020350
Leeds United 2018–19 Championship 4011000051
Barnsley 2019–20 Championship 324101000344
Career total 815413020906

References
  1. "Club list of registered players: As at 19th May 2018: Leeds United" (PDF). English Football League. p. 21. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  2. http://www.tablesleague.com/teams/helsinki1/aapo_halme/
  3. https://www.voetbalzone.nl/speler.asp?uid=346075
  4. "Aapo Halme" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  5. "Leeds news: Aapo Halme to complete Elland Road transfer in 'next few days'". Daily Express. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  6. "Aapo Halme ja HJK pitkään jatkosopimukseen". Sportti.com. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  7. https://www.hjk.fi/uutiset/Miehet-3560
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-03-21. Retrieved 2017-03-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "AAPO HALME SIGNS FOR LEEDS UNITED". leedsunited. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  10. Lee Sobot (3 January 2018). "Leeds United: Whites sign up Finland Under-19s centre-back". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  11. Iltaheti (14 March 2018). "Twilight injury brakes for the first time in England - "It has not been the easiest entry"". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  12. "U23 REPORT: LEEDS UNITED 1-1 QUEENS PARK RANGERS". Leeds United. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  13. "Marcelo Bielsa drops Aapo Halme hint with defender 'ready' to make long-awaited Leeds United debut". YEP. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  14. "Leeds United vs Bristol City". Leeds United. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  15. "QPR 2–1 Leeds United". BBC Sport. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  16. "'True leader' – Leeds under-23 captain Hugo Diaz impresses the fans once again". The Boot Room. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  17. "Carlos Corberan on what the future can hold for Leeds United's PDL champions". YEP. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  18. "AAPO HALME MAKES BARNSLEY MOVE". YEP. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  19. "Barnsley 2-2 Derby County". BBC. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  20. "Leeds United defender captains international side in huge victory". We Love The Football League. 23 March 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  21. "Statistics". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
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