Brian Laudrup

Brian Laudrup (, born 22 February 1969) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a winger, forward or as a midfielder, and was regarded as one of the most talented players of his generation. He currently works as a football commentator, pundit and analyst on Kanal 5 and 6'eren. Laudrup manages a football academy for marginalised youth, along with former international goalkeeper Lars Høgh.

During his playing career which eventually stalled due to injury, Laudrup represented a number of European clubs. He started with Danish club Brøndby, winning two Danish championships in the late 1980s. He then played for German and Italian clubs, winning the 1993–94 Serie A as well as the 1994 UEFA Champions League title with Milan. He was a vital part of the Rangers team which dominated the Scottish Premier Division in the 1990s, winning three championships, among others. He won the 1998 UEFA Super Cup in his brief stint with English club Chelsea, and had a brief spell with Copenhagen in Denmark, before ending his career with Ajax in 2000.

Laudrup also played 82 matches and scored 21 goals for the Denmark national team, and was a vital part of the Danish teams which won UEFA Euro 1992 and the 1995 Confederations Cup.

Laudrup won the Danish Football Player of the Year award a record four times. He was named by FIFA as the fifth-best player in the world in 1992 and was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers at the FIFA 100 ceremony in March 2004, alongside his older brother Michael Laudrup.

Early life

Brian Laudrup was born into a football family – his father Finn Laudrup was a former Danish international, and his brother Michael Laudrup also became a Danish international. Brian Laudrup was born in Vienna when his father was playing for Wiener SC.

Club career

Brøndby

Laudrup began his senior career with Brøndby in Denmark. At Brøndby, he competed with later Danish internationals Claus Nielsen and Bent Christensen for a place in the starting line-up, and formed a great partnership with Nielsen. He won the 1987 and 1988 Danish First Division with the club. Halfway through the 1989 season, Laudrup's contract with Brøndby expired, and he agreed to join German club Bayer Uerdingen. The transfer fee was thought to be around DKK 8 million, the partition of which Brøndby and Brian's father and agent Finn Laudrup disagreed about. The Danish Football Union ruled in favor of Brøndby's claims of around DKK 3.9 million, but the Laudrups paid around DKK 3.3 million, and insisted on not paying the remainder. The case was eventually settled in March 1990.Vagn Erlandsen, "Forlig i Laudrup-sagen", Berlingske Tidende, 17 March 1990, Section 3, p. 6.

Uerdingen

Laudrup joined Uerdingen in order to play in a club with relative little pressure, and also looked to lean on fellow Dane Jan Bartram, who was already at the club. He scored 6 goals in 34 matches during the 1989–90 Bundesliga season, and impressed so much for both club and country that he was named Danish Player of the Year.

Laudrup's performances in the Bundesliga were widely praised. At ''kickers biannual ranking of Bundesliga players, Laudrup was rated the league's second-best forward in the second highest category, international class, after Werder Bremen's New Zealander, Wynton Rufer. German sports magazine ''Sport Bild'' hailed Laudrup as the 1989–90 season's best signing, ahead of high-profile names including Uwe Bein, Stefan Kuntz and Thomas Strunz.

As he felt the Uerdingen executives would not strengthen the Uerdingen team, Laudrup sought to leave the club in the summer of 1990.

Bayern Munich

Laudrup's great performances in the Bundesliga and for Denmark attracted Bayern Munich for his signature, who purchased him for a DM6 million transfer fee in May 1990, making him the most expensive Bundesliga player at the time. In his first season, Laudrup scored 9 goals in 33 games as the club finished in second place. Laudrup was also part of the Bayern squad that reached the semi-final of the 1990–91 European Cup.

Laudrup was highly rated among the experts, but he was also very popular in large parts of the German population. In a vote that gave ''kicker''-readers the opportunity to choose their favourite players at individual places and the most popular player, known as "das Idol '90", was won by Laudrup with four times as many votes as Klaus Allofs in second place. By a vote of ''Sport Bild'' that 156,000 readers participated in, he received 24,245 votes and was elected the fourth best performer out of 900 candidates among German legionnaires abroad and all players in the 1. and 2. Bundesliga. Only the popular world champions Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthäus and Rudi Völler received more votes. Laudrup finished ahead of high-profile stars like Thomas Häßler, Jürgen Klinsmann, Andreas Möller, Thomas Doll, Jürgen Kohler, Karl-Heinz Riedle and Matthias Sammer, and so entirely on Bundesliga players, Laudrup took first place.

Laudrup was a consistent performer in his first five matches of the 1991–92 season but suffered a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee in August 1991. Laudrup watched from the stands as the team collapsed in a disastrous season. In December 1991, Laudrup said new Bayern executives Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were creating chaos in the team through their public criticism of the younger Bayern players. He returned to the team in February 1992 and played the last 15 matches of the season as Bayern finished in tenth position. Despite the injury-hit season, Laudrup still finished the 1991–92 season being named Danish Player of the Year again for the second time, and finished fifth in the FIFA World Player of the year poll.

Fiorentina

Laudrup's reputation began to grow and he fulfilled his lifelong ambition when he moved to Serie A (at the time, arguably the top league in the world) to sign for Fiorentina. Fiorentina started the 1992–93 season brilliantly, playing open, flowing and attacking football in the first part of the season. However, a change of manager in the second half of the season was the beginning of the end for Fiorentina. The team as a whole produced mediocre performances, and despite the presence of such other stars as Stefan Effenberg and Gabriel Batistuta, the club was unexpectedly relegated after more than 50-straight years playing in Serie A. Despite the relegation, Laudrup himself had a fairly solid season, and was loaned to Milan for the 1993–94 season.

Loaned to Milan

Laudrup was loaned to Milan for the 1993–94 season, which only saw him play a handful of matches throughout the season due to a squad rotation system at the club, and also because of the three foreigner rule at the time. The world class team of Milan at the time had seven foreigners, including Laudrup, Marcel Desailly, Jean-Pierre Papin, Dejan Savićević and Marco van Basten, which meant Laudrup was not always used. It was also manager Fabio Capello's very strict system where he preferred to play more defensive type players rather than the direct play preferred by Laudrup. However, Capello's defensive system proved to work at the end of the season, as Milan won the ''Scudetto'' only scoring 36 goals in 34 matches. Laudrup played seven European matches for the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League-winning Milan side. Despite being on contract with Fiorentina until the summer of 1996, Laudrup stated in December 1993 he did not want to return to the club.

Rangers

In July 1994, Laudrup was offered an escape route from Italy when he was approached by Walter Smith of Rangers. Rangers at that time were an ambitious club and had money to spend to try to seek European glory. This attracted Laudrup, and he signed for a £2.3 million transfer fee.

He made an immediate impact at Rangers. On the opening league fixture of the season against Motherwell in August 1994, it was from his precise cross that Mark Hateley headed the opening goal. In the second half with only a few minutes remaining, he provided another assist with a long run from the half-way line before passing to Duncan Ferguson, who then scored Rangers' second goal to clinch a 2–1 win. He scored his first goal for the club later that same month, in a Scottish League Cup tie against Falkirk. Although Scottish football was more physical than what he was previously used to, he excelled in the free role given to him by manager Walter Smith. Laudrup turned down an offer from Barcelona five months after signing for Rangers. He finished the season with 10 goals in 33 League games, in addition to a number of assists, as Rangers won their seventh consecutive Championship. As recognition of his fine performances, Laudrup won both the Scottish Football Writers and Scottish PFA player of the year awards. His performances for Rangers and Denmark also resulted in his winning his third Danish Player of the Year award.

Laudrup missed a run of nine League games in the early part of season 1995–96 due to an injury sustained in international duty. He returned against Celtic in November 1995 and scored Rangers' first goal in a 3–3 draw at Ibrox. He was also now playing alongside Paul Gascoigne, and the pair were instrumental in Rangers winning their eighth league championship. Laudrup also made a big impact in the latter stages of the Scottish Cup