King’s Lynn Town could acquire a whole a new army of fans following the signing of Ipswich Town defender Elkan Baggott.
The 18-year-old Indonesian is a relative unknown on these shores as far as his football is concerned – but he’s big league when it comes to social media.
Baggott was born in Bangkok, to an English father and Indonesian mother, and has thousands of fans following his every kick back home.
Indonesians love football – and it seems they love Baggott.
Baggott has more than 140,000 followers on Instagram, where his posts attract tens of thousands of likes.
YouTube is packed with videos discussing his talents, each clocking up thousands (in some cases hundreds of thousands) of views, while his first interview with the Indonesian FA (PSSI) has been viewed more than a million times.
The Indonesia Under-19 international joined Lynn from Ipswich Town on loan on Monday.
He made his Town debut against Gillingham in the EFL Trophy in October, having signed scholarship forms last year.
His call-up to the Indonesian Under 19s last summer was a cause for celebration in Indonesia, where he was schooled before moving to England in 2011, with Baggott clearly excited to be representing a country where he still has plenty of family members.
“I feel proud and honoured to represent my country and I can’t wait to get going with my team and winning some competitions and trophies,” he said in an interview with PSSI.
“My hopes are to get into the team and to win the AFC and then do well in the World Cup. They are my long-term goals.
“On the ball is one of my strengths but I’m aggressive and I’d like to say I’m solid in the back line and a leader as well,” he continued.
“My role models are Virgil van Dijk and previously Rio Ferdinand. I try to base my game around van Dijk but Ferdinand is just the definition of a quality centre-back, so I try and base my game around those two.
“My family are very proud because I have a lot based here in Jakarta and my friends try to keep me grounded. All my closest family live here and I just want to represent them and make me proud.”
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