page_title: Martin Laursen
section_title: Aston Villa
hierarchical_section_title: Martin Laursen / Club career / Aston Villa
caption_attribution_description: Denmark football (soccer) defender Martin Laursen of Aston Villa F.C. during the Premier League match against Birmingham City F.C.
context_page_description: Martin Laursen is a Danish former professional footballer who played in the centre-back position. He played three seasons for Italian club A.C. Milan, with whom he won the 2003 UEFA Champions League and the 2004 Serie A championship. He also played for Italian clubs Hellas Verona and Parma FC, and was the team captain of English club Aston Villa. He was most recently the manager of BK Søllerød-Vedbæk.
  Laursen was capped 53 times and scored two goals for the Denmark national team from 2000 to 2008, and he was named 2008 Danish Football Player of the Year. He represented Denmark at the 2000 European Championship, 2002 FIFA World Cup, and 2004 European Championship tournaments.
context_section_description: On 21 May 2004, Laursen was bought by FA Premier League side Aston Villa for a fee of £3 million, on a four-year contract. His debut with Villa came against Southampton on 14 August, a match which ended 2–0 in Villa's favour. Laursen's time at Villa initially proved frustrating. He put in a few encouraging performances on and off, during the 2004–05 season, but the knee injury that plagued him earlier in his career returned and kept Laursen at playing only one Premier League game for Aston Villa during the 2005–06 season. After a re-occurrence of the knee injury during the summer 2006 off-season, his playing future at club and international level was seen to be in doubt.
  He underwent a full rehabilitation in Bologna, and returned to the Villa side in August 2006. Villa hired Martin O'Neill as manager in August 2006, and he and Laursen came to an understanding of giving Laursen the freedom to train as he wanted, which helped prevent further injuries. Laursen became an integral part of O'Neill's plans, and the physical English playing style proved to suit Laursen perfectly. Laursen became an effective goalscorer for Villa during the 2007–08 season, scoring six goals from his position of centre-back. This included three goals against Tottenham Hotspur, two of which came in a thrilling 4–4 draw at White Hart Lane, the other coming in a 2–1 home victory. During that season, he also made the astonishing total of 739 clearances, a single-season record that stays unmatched to this day. Laursen agreed terms on a new two-and-a-half-year deal with Aston Villa in January 2008. He played all Villa's matches, except for League Cup games, during the 2007–08 season and he was voted the Supporters' Player of the Year in 2008.
  Laursen replaced Gareth Barry as club captain for Villa on a permanent basis for the 2008–09 season. In Aston Villa's first game of the 2008–09 season, Laursen captained the side in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and continued his goal-scoring record from set pieces by scoring Villa's second goal in the 2–2 draw against Danish team Odense BK. Laursen also managed to get onto the scoresheet in a UEFA Cup match with FH Hafnarfjörður, and against Stoke City in the Premiership. On 23 October 2008, Laursen gave Aston Villa the lead in the UEFA Cup game against Ajax Amsterdam with a header from close-range. Villa went on to win the match 2–1. He was named 2008 Danish Football Player of the Year in November 2008.
  In December 2008, Laursen was injured again. He returned for the game against West Bromwich Albion in January 2009, but suffered an injury relapse. In April 2009, O'Neill expressed his fears that Laursen's career might be over due to the injuries which, even if treated, would require 10 months of reconvalescence. In May 2009, Laursen announced his decision to retire from football rather than undergo major surgery. 24 May saw Aston Villa's final game of the season at home to Newcastle United. Prior to kick-off, Laursen appeared in front of the Villa Park crowd and gave a speech where he thanked the fans and wish them well for the future. Following this, he was inducted into the "Villa Legends" section of Aston Villa's official website.
caption: Laursen during a Premier League match against Birmingham City F.C. on 20 April 2008.
exif: {}