Ipswich Town: Everything you need to know about loanee Jens Cajuste

Cajuste moved from Sweden to China as a child (Image: PA)

Mr. Worldwide

Cajuste’s background is fascinating, having been born in Sweden to a Haitian-American father and a Swedish mother as one of three children. His brother and his sister lived in Manhattan as of 2019.

His playing days started on the other side of the world in China, with his father relocating the family to Luoyang to take up a job as a venture capitalist.

“Growing up in China was fun, lots of fun," Cajuste said. "For starters I didn't have to go to school - which you know has to be a lot of fun for a kid. But the reason my sister and I didn't go to school in the first year was because in Luoyang in 2005, a city with six million people, there wasn't an international school at the time. There were less than maybe 100 foreigners or so, and almost all of the foreigners living in Luoyang were teachers."

He added: “My parents sent me and my sister for Chinese lessons during the day. 

"That was pretty special because the classroom was an apartment in a large residential compound. And my parents instructed the tutor not to keep us in the classroom for more than an hour at a time.

"During the breaks the teacher would just open up the door and let us go out and play. Most of the times there were no kids there because all of the kids were at school. But there were a lot of old retired people and you know they treated us like grandchildren - so we learned Chinese really fast.”

A move to Beijing came a year later, allowing him to compete in some of the bigger local tournaments for his age category.

“It was in Beijing - that's where I started to play soccer,” Cajuste said. “And I joined two clubs - one called Sports Beijing and the other, Yueye, which basically means off-road. It was interesting.

"With the Sports Beijing team, we would go to tournaments in Shanghai and my parents would tell me how shocked they were to see how big the tournament was for that age. There were teams not only from China but from other countries in Asia as well.”

The midfielder faced Liverpool in the Champions League during his time at FC Midtjylland (Image: PA)

Moves to Denmark and France

Returning to Sweden a few years later, Cajuste began playing at Örgryte IS, rising through their youth academy to earn a senior contract in 2016 at the age of 17. In October that year, he made his debut for the first team, and after making 18 appearances in three campaigns at the club, he earned a move to Danish giants FC Midtjylland in 2018 for a reported fee of €250,000 (c. £213,000).

He started off playing for the under-23’s, thriving at a level that he was clearly well above by scoring twice in seven appearances. He helped the first team win the Danish Superliga title in 2019/20, playing 24 games, and quickly established himself as a key starter in the league and in Europe. 

Cajuste helped them qualify for the Champions League group stages the following season, starting against Liverpool, Ajax and Atalanta while missing two games due to COVID-19.

Interested clubs quickly began to circle him, but Ligue 1 outfit Stade de Reims got the deal done first. Sporting director Pol-Édouard Caillot first saw him play in a training match in August 2020, saying: “We were one of the first clubs to approach Jens. We met competition from other big European teams very quickly, but the closeness created with the player and those around him was crucial. The player has been receptive to the project and its development.”

Speaking about Cajuste’s quality, he added: “What is striking about him is his willingness to play forward and break the lines. He has an ability to always escape the pressure, which is quite impressive.”

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t stay for long in France, making 39 league appearances across two seasons as Reims lingered around mid-table under Óscar García and Will Still. He was sold to Serie A club Napoli for a reported fee of €12 million (just over £10 million) last summer.

Napoli boss Antonio Conte was reportedly happy to let Cajuste leave this summer (Image: PA)

A failed Italian job

Napoli had just won the Serie A title, which was the third in their history and their first since 1990 when they had the legendary Diego Maradona in their ranks. However, manager Luciano Spaletti requested and was granted a year-long sabbatical, albeit he took up the Italy job just a few months later.

They were busy in the transfer market that summer, selling more than £100 million of talent including star centre-back Kim Min-jae to Bayern Munich. They also spent a lot, with Cajuste becoming their joint-fourth most expensive addition. He described it as ‘the easiest decision of his life’.

He made 26 appearances - 15 of which came off the bench - totalling just over 1,000 minutes. In that time, he didn’t score but registered two assists (against Genoa and AS Roma). He also featured in all six of their Champions League group stage fixtures while starting in first leg of their round-of-16 tie against FC Barcelona.

By his own admission, it was far from his best season, but the team chopped managers. As a result, he worked under Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona in the space of just a few months.

As a result, Gli Azzuri finished 10th, with new boss Antonio Conte happy to let him go just 12 months into his five-year deal.

A variety of clubs were linked, with Fiorentina, Everton and Brentford seemingly among those chasing his signature. It was the Bees who agreed a deal with Napoli and organised a medical for Cajuste, but they reportedly pulled the plug on the move before the paperwork could be signed.

It wasn’t the first time a deal had fallen through for him late on, having previously spoken about his disappointment after a deadline-day move to Leeds collapsed in 2021. This time, Ipswich were there to rush in and pick up the pieces.

The 25-year-old's versatility should appeal to Town boss Kieran McKenna (Image: Ross Halls)

What to expect

For starters, it’s important to note that Cajuste is a senior international. The 25-year-old is eligible to represent a variety of different countries, including the United States, but opted to represent Sweden. He featured three times for them at youth level in 2019 before being called up to the senior squad the following year. 

He made his international debut in a 2-0 defeat to Denmark and was subsequently named in Sweden’s 26-man squad for Euro 2020, where he only played six minutes off the bench against Spain. In total, he’s earned 23 caps.

As a player, Cajuste’s size stands out. At 6ft 2ins, he often has an inch or two on his opponents as well as the physical presence to overshadow them. He moves well and likes getting stuck in, telling Town TV that he’s looking forward to making some ‘British-style tackles’ during his time at Portman Road.

His main inspirations are Andrea Pirlo and Sergio Busquets. “I try to be inspired by them on the way they see the game before others, to scan the information, to be one hundredth of a second ahead,” he explained. He also cited Mousa Dembélé, Axel Witsel and Andrés Iniesta as three players that he’s looked up to.

Able to play anywhere in central midfield or in a deep-lying role, Cajuste’s versatility must have caught Kieran McKenna’s eye. He predominantly played on the left side of a flat midfield three at Napoli, which could make him a good partner for Sam Morsy. For Sweden, however, he’s recently been used as a left-back instead.

As a result, don’t expect many goals. He’s only scored eight in 174 senior appearances so far in his career, but he ticks a lot of other boxes. He certainly looks like an ideal McKenna midfielder.