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Nicklas Bendtner

Bendtner playing for Arsenal
Personal information
Full name	Nicklas Bendtner[1]
Date of birth	16 January 1988 (1988-01-16) (age 22)
Place of birth	Copenhagen, Denmark
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)[2] [3]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Arsenal
Number	52
Youth career
1998–2002	B.93
2002–2004	KB
2004–2005	Arsenal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2005–	Arsenal	75	(18)
2006–2007	→ Birmingham City (loan)	42	(11)
National team‡
2004	Denmark U-16	3	(3)
2005	Denmark U-17	15	(6)
2006	Denmark U-19	2	(1)
2006	Denmark U-21	4	(2)
2006–	Denmark	32	(11)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:08, 21 February 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 3 March 2010

Nicklas Bendtner (born 16 January 1988) is a Danish footballer who plays for Arsenal and the Denmark national team as a striker. His preferred position is centre forward but has been played on the right side of coach Arsène Wenger's 4-3-3 formation.^[4].

Club career

Youth and Arsenal

Born in Copenhagen, Bendtner started playing football for Copenhagen clubs B.93 and FC Copenhagen's feeder club Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB). He scored four goals in six Danish national youth team matches, before joining English club Arsenal in the summer of 2004. He formed a prolific strike partnership in the reserves, with teammate Arturo Lupoli. Bendtner's first team debut for Arsenal came on 25 October 2005, in a League Cup match against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, as a substitute for Quincy Owusu-Abeyie in the final minutes.

Loan to Birmingham City

Bendtner was loaned out to Championship team Birmingham City in August 2006, with the loan initially lasting until January 2007.^[5] Bendtner made his debut for Birmingham, as a substitute for Stephen Clemence, in the game against Colchester United on 5 August 2006. He played the final half hour, scoring the winning goal. The loan at Birmingham was extended through the end of the 2006–07 season.

Returning to Arsenal

2007–08

Bendtner signed a new five-year contract with Arsenal in May 2007,^[6] and returned to the club for the 2007–08 Premier League season. After impressing at Birmingham, the teenage striker was presented with opportunities to seek first team football elsewhere but stayed on in order to earn his place in the starting eleven.^[7]

In his first match at the Emirates Stadium, a friendly against Paris Saint Germain in the inaugural pre-season Emirates Cup tournament, Bendtner scored a goal, and assisted in another by Mathieu Flamini. His first competitive strike for the Gunners was the game winning goal in a 2–0 result versus Newcastle United on 25 September 2007 during a League Cup match. On 23 October, he scored his debut UEFA Champions League goal came in the 89th minute against SK Slavia Prague just over 20 minutes after coming on as a substitute, finishing off a back-heeled pass from Emmanuel Eboué to complete the 7-0 thrashing.

His first Premier League start came at Everton on 29 December 2007. In the game he was sent off for two bookable offences. After suspension ended, Bendtner scored his first FA Cup goal against Burnley on 6 January 2008. Arsenal won the game 2–0.

Bendtner's first Premier League goal came on 22 December 2007 in a 2–1 Arsenal victory against Tottenham, at The Emirates Stadium. He headed the winning goal from a Cesc Fàbregas corner just 1.8 seconds (official time) after coming on as a substitute for Emmanuel Eboué, breaking the previous record.

During the season, Wenger tried to partner Bendtner with Emmanuel Adebayor whenever Robin van Persie was rested. However, Bendtner and Adebayor did not get along well.^[8] It became apparent during the 2008 League Cup semifinal replay away at Tottenham Hotspur when the pair had a heated on-pitch altercation with the scoreline at 4-1 to Tottenham and referee Howard Webb, then captain William Gallas and other teammates had to intervene and separate the two.^[9] Adebayor later apologized on Arsenal's website and The Football Association declined to take any formal action against the duo.^[10]

Bendtner also scored a last minute equaliser against Aston Villa to keep Arsenal top of the table.

2008–09

The main highlight of his pre-season was scoring four goals in the first-half of Arsenal's 10–2 victory against Burgenland XI on Tuesday 29 July 2008. He scored his first Premier League goal of the 2008–09 season against Bolton Wanderers on 20 September 2008 at the Reebok Stadium.

On 5 May 2009 the 21-year-old was controversially shown leaving a night club hours after Arsenal's 3–1 home defeat by Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final. Bendtner was pictured with his belt undone and jeans pulled down. "I may be young, but my actions were a poor error of judgment and something I deeply regret," said the Dane. Bendtner was a second-half substitute for Arsenal, who lost 4–1 on aggregate to defending champions United.^[11]

2009–10

Bendtner started the new season by announcing a change in his Arsenal squad number for the 2009/10 season. "Before the season starts I wanted to change my squad number from 26 which I've obviously had for a number of seasons. I chose to move to 52 because it's a special number to me personally, and I hope that it brings me good luck for the new season. I appreciate that a good number of fans have bought their kits for 2009/10 already with names and numbers printed up so I'd like to personally cover the cost of replacing anyone's shirt that has my previous number. It means a lot to see supporters wearing your name and number, and I want to ensure people aren't inconvenienced by the change."^[12]

On 16 September 2009, Bendtner scored his first goal of the season in the Champions League group stage in a 3–2 away win against Standard Liège. He scored his first league goal of the season in Arsenal's 6–2 win over Blackburn Rovers. On 28 October 2009, he scored the winning goal in the League Cup in a 2–1 win against Liverpool.^[13]

On November 10, 2009, Bendtner underwent groin surgery in Germany after aggravating a groin injury on October 31 playing against Tottenham Hotspur. He was expected to be out for up to four weeks,^[14] but returned on 27 January 2010 in a 0–0 draw at Villa Park.^[15] He started his first match after recovering from his injury and played 82 minutes against Liverpool on 10 February 2010 to complete his return to full fitness. ^[16] On 20 February 2010, Bendtner scored his first goal since October 2009 against Sunderland. He then followed it up with a goal against Stoke City in a 3–1 away win. In March, he scored his first hat-trick of his professional career in a 5–0 defeat of Porto in the second leg of the Champions League first knockout round to overturn their 2–1 loss in the first leg.

International career

Bendtner started his national team career by scoring three goals in three starts for the Denmark under-16 national team in February 2004. He then scored six goals in 15 games for the Denmark under-17 national team, and was named 2004 Danish Under-17 Player of the Year.

Bendtner was the youngest player selected for the Danish under-21 national squad for the 2006 European Under-21 Championship tournament. He replaced Morten Rasmussen in the Danish starting line-up. He got his under-21 debut on 17 May 2006, at the age of 18, scoring both goals in a Danish 2–0 victory over Spain under-21 team in a friendly match. When Bendtner was substituted with Rasmussen during the game against the Netherlands under-21 team, Bendtner told the press he found Rasmussen a lesser player. Bendtner was reprimanded, but played the rest of the tournament before Denmark were eliminated.^[17]

On 16 August 2006 Bendtner earned his first senior cap for the Danish national team, still only 18 years old, making him the seventh youngest player on the Danish senior national team ever.^[18] He was in the starting lineup for his debut game, a friendly match against Poland. He scored a goal after 30 minutes, helping Denmark to a 2–0 win. On 1 September 2006, he played his second national team game, and came on as a substitute in a friendly match against Portugal. He scored the final goal in a 4–2 win for Denmark. Although he still qualified to play for the U21's, Bendtner soon earned a spot in the starting line on the Danish national team scoring, two goals in UEFA Euro 2008 Qualifying.

In the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Bendtner scored an 84th minute 1–1 equaliser against Portugal - a match Denmark would later go on to win 3–2. He scored again against Portugal in the reverse fixture which ended 1–1.^[19] He then scored a header four days later against Albania. Nicklas assisted Jakob Poulsen's goal in Denmark's 1–0 win over Sweden which meant they qualified for the 2010 World Cup. He ended the campaign with 3 goals. For his contribution, he was voted Danish Player of the Year and his goal against Portugal won the Goal of the Year award.^[20][21]

Career statistics

(correct as of 14 March 2010)^[22]

International goals

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	2006-08-16	Odense, Denmark	Poland	1–0	2–0	Friendly match
2.	2006-09-01	Copenhagen, Denmark	Portugal	4–2	4–2	Friendly match
3.	2007-03-28	Duisburg, Germany	Germany	1–0	1–0	Friendly match
4.	2007-11-17	Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	1–0	1–2	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
5.	2007-11-21	Copenhagen, Denmark	Iceland	1–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
6.	2008-02-06	Nova Gorica, Slovenia	Slovenia	2–1	2–1	Friendly match
7.	2008-03-26	Herning, Denmark	Czech Republic	1–0	1–1	Friendly match
8.	2008-09-10	Lisbon, Portugal	Portugal	1–1	3–2	2010 World Cup Qual.
9.	2009-09-05	Copenhagen, Denmark	Portugal	1–0	1–1	2010 World Cup Qual.
10.	2009-09-09	Tirana, Albania	Albania	1–0	1–1	2010 World Cup Qual.
11.	2010-03-03	Vienna, Austria	Austria	1–1	1–2	Friendly match

Honours

Birmingham City

Runner-up

• Football League Championship: 2006–07

Individual

• Danish Under-17 Player of the Year: 2004
• Danish Talent of the Year: 2007
• Danish Football Player of the Year: 2009
• Danish Goal of the Year: 2009

References

External links

• Nicklas Bendtner's profile at Arsenal.com
• Danish national team profile
• PFA profile
• Nicklas Bendtner career stats at Soccerbase