Boreham Wood Rejects Djurgardens' £1.5m Bid for Abdulmalik
Boreham Wood are digging their heels in.
The National League club have turned down a second offer from Djurgardens for star winger Abdulmalik, this time worth £1.5m, according to Sky Sports News. The Swedish side had already seen an opening £1m bid knocked back earlier in the month.
For a fifth-tier side, that is serious money. They are still saying no.
Non-league club, top-tier interest
Inside Meadow Park, the message is clear: Abdulmalik is central to Boreham Wood’s plans and not for sale on the cheap. At 23, the winger has become the club’s standout asset and one of the most coveted young players outside the English Football League.
Djurgardens’ interest is no scattergun punt. BBC Sport report that the Stockholm club are working to a defined recruitment model – identify raw talent before the market catches up, polish it, then sell on for a profit. It is a system that has already paid off.
The project is being driven by sporting director Maximilian Hahn, formerly head of recruitment at West Ham United. His time in east London, and his links with current Sweden manager Graham Potter from that spell, have opened doors in the British market. He is now using those connections to scour the UK for players exactly like Abdulmalik.
From Millwall release to National League star
Abdulmalik’s rise has been sharp. Released by Millwall, he arrived at Boreham Wood on a free transfer in 2024. He did not come empty-handed: youth honours with the Lions and England Under-17 caps underlined his pedigree, but he still needed a platform.
He has more than taken it.
The 2025-26 season turned into a breakout campaign. Operating from wide, he struck 17 goals and supplied 10 assists, numbers that earned him the National League Young Player of the Season award. Week after week, he drove Boreham Wood’s attack; by the end, he was one of the division’s headline acts.
Then came Wembley.
In the play-off final under the arch, Abdulmalik produced the kind of performance that sticks in a scout’s notebook. That display hardened Djurgardens’ resolve to bring him to the Allsvenskan, where they have already showcased and moved on talents such as Danish striker August Priske, sold to Birmingham City in January 2026.
They see Abdulmalik as the next project. Boreham Wood see him as their present.
Deadline pressure and a pivotal season
The clock is now a factor. With the transfer window ticking towards its close, Boreham Wood face a test of nerve. Turn down one bid, then another, and the numbers tend to rise. So does the noise around the player.
Inside the club, the task is twofold: fend off overseas suitors and keep Abdulmalik’s mindset locked on the pitch, not the price tag. The lure of a seven-figure move abroad, a top-flight league, a new country – it can unsettle even the most grounded 23-year-old.
His response will shape Boreham Wood’s season.
Abdulmalik’s end product, his ability to turn tight games with a burst of pace or a clinical finish, underpins their ambition to go one better and secure automatic promotion into the English Football League. Lose him now and the equation changes. Keep him focused and firing, and a club that have already punched above their weight might just kick the door down.
