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Jonas Olsson big interview: "I don't really know where home is anymore"

"I don't really know where home is anymore," says Jonas Olsson, who has been playing professional football abroad for more than a decade.

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There's no trace of self-pity in his voice, because Albion's big Swede is acutely aware of the privileged position he's in, more so perhaps, than other professional footballers.

Nor is it a moment of realisation for the 33-year-old, who entered his ninth season with the Baggies on Saturday.

A family man with a four-year-old, Olsson has brought his daughter up in the West Midlands and so the notion of mixed identity is not a new one. "She was born in Sweden but she grew up here. She probably sees it as home," he admits.

But it's not so clear-cut for daddy. Born in Landskrona, a small medieval town on the West coast of Sweden, the centre-half made a name for his local side before catching the eye of Dutch club NEC.

Three years later, in 2008, he was picked up by the Baggies for £800,000 and over the course of the last eight years Albion's very own long-haired Viking has become a cult hero at The Hawthorns.

"I moved out to Holland when I was 20, so all my adult life has been abroad basically," he said. "I've got a daughter and a girlfriend here, my parents and sister are back in Sweden.

"Midlands isn't home, but Sweden isn't home either. I'm always going to have a special place in my heart for the Midlands and West Bromwich. It's a very important part of my adult life.

"I've stayed here for nine years and I wouldn't if I didn't like being here. It's special, but it's not home."

Now that he's nearing his mid-30s, Olsson has been thinking a lot about the future.

His contract ran out at the end of last season and for a while there was some uncertainty about whether it would be renewed.

But in April, both he and Gareth McAuley signed one-year extensions.

It was that experienced pair who lined up alongside each other at the heart of defence against Crystal Palace on Saturday, helping Tony Pulis's side record a 1-0 win with an unyielding defensive performance.

"We know each other well," said Olsson. "Gareth came back in 2011 and I've been here since 2008 so we have been playing a lot of games next to each other.

"He's a better player now than he was six years ago. He's really athletic for a 36-year-old and his decision making is really good."

McAuley turns 37 in December, so does his longevity inspire Olsson, three years his junior?

"I don't think about his age, he doesn't come across as 36," he said.

"For me, as long as I feel fit and have the motivation to play I'm going to keep playing.

"When you see Gareth doing so well at that age, maybe it is a bit inspiring.

"We have a good understanding, which means we don't need to shout at each other that much.

"That's also comes from knowing each other for six or seven years in any relationship.

"Gareth and I are very self-critical as well. If you are self-critical you can also demand that from other players.

"The locker room is full of really good guys and that is going to be a strength of ours this season."

Albion were taken over by a Chinese investment group this summer and Olsson, a club stalwart, met new owner Guochuan Lai last week.

Plenty of supporters were hoping the new regime would bring more cash, enabling the Baggies to shoot up the table and be more ambitious, but that hasn't materialised so far.

When Olsson was asked if the target for this season had changed, he was philosophical.

"I think you put mental blocks when you put a target in," he said. "That's unnecessary to do. You're never going to over-achieve then.

"Everything is possible, I think Leicester showed that last year. I'm not saying we're going to go and win the league because that's not realistic but I don't think it's necessary to put down a target and say this is where we're going to end up this year.

"You approach each game individually and you see how far you get."

Olsson endears himself to Albion fans because of his passion on the pitch ­- he wears his heart on his sleeve, puts his body on the line, and never shirks away from a battle.

That never-say-die attitude caused head coach Tony Pulis to once describe him as a 'winner', and it's hard to disagree.

But off the pitch, he's much more tranquil and considered; a gentle giant. Football isn't black and white to him, it's a bit more nuanced than that.

He doesn't think targeting that magical 40-point mark is necessarily the best recipe for success.

"You've seen a few seasons where we've reached that 40 points quite early and then the last seven or eight games we've been really struggling and haven't pushed on," he said.

"Maybe approach it a bit different mentally.

"I'm not sure what way to do that, but one way is to not focus on that mark, or focus on this point tally, or that position too much, and to be inspired by teams like Leicester or West Ham or Southampton.

"In team sports, everything is possible. Look at the Olympics, (Usain) Bolt is going to win 100m final 99 times out of 100 but in team sport everything is possible because there's so many factors at play."

A football thinker, Olsson is also aware there are plenty of more important things going on in the world outside.

Modern players are often detached from the rest of the world, he knows that, and it's something he tries to correct in his life.

"We are very privileged in this part of the world, and in particularly in my line of work," he said.

"You get paid to do what you love and sometimes you lose track of that a little bit and you lose your touch with reality because you're in a bubble.

"It's hard to stay in touch with reality because football is one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world, with the Premier League being on top of that.

"It's important to touch the ground sometimes and to realise that you are very privileged and not take everything for granted, widen your perspective a little bit."

That process is becoming even more important as Olsson enters his mid-30s and nears the end of his career.

Plenty of players retire and immediately lose their identity, lose their reason to exist. That's something that probably won't happen to Olsson, who asked Albion if he could visit India in the summer to see the work of club charity, The Albion Foundation.

"I've always been quite active about social injustice and those kind of things," he said. "I always try to play my part in that."

Olsson could continue to play for some years yet, but where will he pitch up when he does eventually retire?

"I've thought a lot about it of course, but haven't come to a good answer," he said. "I love travelling, I love seeing new places. I love being abroad, but I think it's natural when you hit a certain age to go back to your roots.

"I probably want my daughter to be raised in Sweden, the education is brilliant, it's for everyone, it's free of charge from young age to university which is really good, and a bit different from here.

"It'll come naturally when I do retire, that's what I'm saying to myself. I don't feel any stress about it."

The next question is, what will he do? Olsson covered Euro 2016 for Swedish public service TV and he's not ruling out a career in media.

"I was in Paris, it was quite fun," he said. "Before I've always said I want to do something else totally different to football, but the longer you are in this business the more you realise that your knowledge and your network is in football.

"I do think something within football, I've done quite a lot of media work in Sweden, that's something I might want to pursue, we'll see."

However, there's still 37 games left in the Premier League season, so it's not really top of his agenda right now.

But wherever he does end up feeling at home - be it Sweden, England, or somewhere else ­- you can bet he'll have a smile on his face.

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