Boreham Wood have turned down a second offer from Swedish top-flight side Djurgårdens IF for winger Abdul Abdulmalik - this time worth a reported £1 million - as the Hertfordshire club stand firm on one of the hottest properties outside the Football League.
Djurgårdens' interest has been building all summer. An opening approach of £750,000 was rejected out of hand, with the National League club making clear they believed their man was worth considerably more. The Stockholm side returned with an improved offer just a week before The Wood's season got underway - only to be knocked back again.
Abdulmalik, a Millwall academy product who arrived at Boreham Wood on a free transfer in the summer of 2024 after being let go by the Lions, enjoyed a breakout campaign that few saw coming. He finished last season with 17 goals and 10 assists in 54 appearances, was named in the National League Team of the Season, and picked up the division's Young Player of the Season award. He also had a hand in both goals as Boreham Wood were beaten on penalties by Rochdale in the play-off final at Wembley, having already helped the club lift the National League Cup by beating West Ham's under-21s.
Should Djurgårdens come back with a third bid that clears £1 million, it would eclipse the figure long regarded as the benchmark for a direct sale out of non-league football - the reported £1m Leicester City paid Fleetwood Town for Jamie Vardy back in 2012. That deal, of course, went on to look like the bargain of the century once Vardy fired the Foxes to a Premier League title.
Djurgårdens' pursuit fits a wider pattern for the Swedish club, who have built a recruitment model around identifying undervalued talent and selling it on for profit. Their recently-appointed sporting director, Max Hahn, arrives having worked in recruitment at West Ham United - and under current Sweden boss Graham Potter - giving the move an added layer of intrigue given the English connections on both sides of the negotiating table.
For Boreham Wood, the calculation is simple enough. They finished fourth in the National League last season and were desperately unlucky not to secure Football League football via the play-offs. Losing their talisman for anything less than a genuinely transformative fee would be hard to stomach going into a season where they'll fancy going one better. For now, at least, The Wood are holding their nerve.
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