Room 13 has been assigned to us at the Arsenal training centre in London
Colney - unlucky for the photographer who has set up his lighting equipment,
his tripod and camera. There had not been a request for the photograph,
Nicklas agreed only to the interview and as he’s feeling slightly off colour
and unprepared for a photographic session, he would prefer not. Before you
start, you have entered the interesting world of Nicklas Bendtner.
What is interesting is the calmness and the certainty. There isn’t a hint of
impoliteness; he’s come just to speak, not to be photographed. His birth
certificate claims that on Wednesday, January 16, he turns 20, but he seemed
that 10 years ago. Back then he put his career into safe hands - his own.
Since then there have been some important decisions, but no regrets.
Consider him as he was at age 10, when he was invited to join the oldest and
most prestigious amateur club in Denmark, Copenhagen Boldklub. It meant a
long journey from the island of Amager, on the south side of Copenhagen to
his new club near the city centre. His parents, Thomas and Joan, braced
themselves for the long commute to Nicklas’s many training sessions but the
boy said there needn’t be a problem, he would take the train and the bus to
Boldklub.
He sits before you now with his studded earring, designer watch and it is easy
to see him as the epitome of the modern professional footballer. He is
modern, he can certainly play, but typical . . . Bendtner is the epitome of
nothing but himself.
The difference is in the way he wears his baseball cap. The peak points at a
curious angle, not forwards nor backwards, but in a north-easterly
direction. It’s borderline cool and quite funny and then, when he talks,
he’s still borderline cool but very funny. Discussing how a man who stands
6ft 4in should be blessed with remarkably good technique when the ball is on
the floor, he talks about what it took.
“My youth coaches always talked about the importance of practising on my own,
after training. They gave me stuff to work on. First week, I was always
good. After the first week, I did less and gradually I just stopped. That
was when I was young and not as professional as I am now. In terms of how
hard I work, I have made a lot of progress but you can always work harder.”
He was 15 and playing for the Danish Under16 national side at a tournament in
Portugal when the Arsenal scout Bob Arber spotted him. Arber spoke with
Arsenal’s academy director Liam Brady and after Brady had travelled to
Germany to watch Bendtner play, the player and his parents were invited to
London to see the training facilities, see the ground and discuss the
possibility of joining Arsenal. It was not an easy decision.
In Denmark, those who play amateur schoolboy football with Copenhagen Boldklub
are expected to become professional with FC Copenhagen. “Plenty of people
were telling me I needed more time before leaving home but I had a talk with
my dad and I said, ‘You know what I want to do, you have to get me out of
here and to Arsenal’. To become the best footballer you want to be, you have
to be at the best club. When Arsenal said they wanted me, there was only one
choice and that was to sign for them. Of course, it had to be under the
right terms but Liam Brady was very good with me and I don’t for one minute
regret what I’ve done.”
CLEM CATTINI crosses the car-park at Arsenal’s training centre, a Gunner for
as along as anyone can recall. He’s seen the kids come and go; South
Americans, Africans, Continental Europeans, Irish and British. Until
recently, he and his wife Anna provided digs for young Arsenal footballers
and had been doing so for about 30 years. Bendtner was one of those for whom
the the Cattini place in north London was a first home from home.
He stayed with them for two years. “I liked Nicklas, liked him a lot. Lovely
sense of humour, nice young fellow. It’s never easy for a kid at first and
Nicklas didn’t really speak English when he came, so he had to learn that.
People used to say to me he seemed a little arrogant, but he wasn’t. In the
early days it was his English. You or I will say, ‘Would you mind getting
this for me?’ whereas Nicklas could only say, ‘I need this’.
“He’s very independent, learnt to drive as soon as he could and, of course, he
passed first time. Anna and I felt he was like a surrogate son.” Bendtner
moved out 18 months ago, when he went on loan for a season to Birmingham
City, but has stayed in touch. “Last week, it was my birthday,” said
Cattini, “and Nicklas dropped round with a gift. It was much appreciated but
what you’d expect from him.”
“We could see him maturing into a young man,” says Liam Brady, “and he could
always score a goal. But I would say to him, ‘You have scored a goal in that
game but Arsène Wenger is not going to pick you for the first team on that
performance. You’re going to have to work harder and be more consistent’.
Only when he achieved those things was he going to earn Arsène’s trust.”
After two years playing for Arsenal’s youth team and reserves, Bendtner had
made a lot of progress but was just 18 and deemed not quite ready for the
Premier League. Fifteen clubs wanted to take him on loan, but it was
suggested to him that Birmingham would be the best option.
“Normally, I like to listen to myself and then to other people. On this
occasion, I took the advice of others because I had no experience of any of
these clubs and it was very much the right choice,” Bendtner said. He
arrived in Birmingham on Thursday, trained with the team on Friday, scored
the winner on Saturday and his season-long contribution was an important
factor in the club earning promotion back to the Premier League.
“I came back from Birmingham a totally different player. We had played the
full season under the pressure of having to win every game. I was the front
man, leading the attack, the guy who should be scoring and it was a
fantastic experience for me. There were games when I could have worked
harder, other games when I did work hard but, overall, I wasn’t mentally
strong enough, but that improved over the season.”
Steve Claridge, the former footballer who is now a respected commentator,
wrote a scouting report based on his performance against West Bromwich
Albion in October, 2006. Claridge concluded: “Some say he is a target man
but that’s too simplistic because he was prepared to come short, link play
and commit defenders, finding other players who were unmarked because of his
own good play . . . His work rate was good throughout and, the more you
watch, the more you realise that this is a player blessed with a fabulous
all-round talent.”
Not so much music to Bendtner’s ear as the old refrain, sung in his own voice.
“I have always been confident in what I can do. I never think about the
defender, who he is or anything like that.
When he’s at my back, I still believe I can lay it off to a teammate,
back-spin him or turn him. If they back off me, thinking they’re not going
to beat me in the air anyway, I will take it on my chest and turn. If
they’re there, I’m happy to flick it on.”
Written down, it may sound like arrogance, but as he tells it, it is nothing
more than his matter-of-fact assessment. So far this season, he has scored
in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup and three
days before the end of the old year, he made his first start in the Premier
League – at Everton on the most important day in the title race so far.
His summary of the game is like a distillation of what he’s about.
“Technically, it wasn’t a good game for me. Every time I touched the ball,
it seemed to run two feet away. Then late in the game I got sent off after
two yellow cards. But what the game showed was our team spirit. We were a
goal down and not playing well but everyone stayed determined, we stayed
strong and that’s why we got the goals.
“A year before I might not have worked so hard but I kept working, got the
flick-on for Eduardo’s second goal and it was a really good win for us. It
showed what we’re about as a team. The boss has shown a lot of confidence in
me this season and I feel I have shown that I belong.”
The form of the young players, I suggest, may be related to the departure of
Thierry Henry in the sense that when the big tree is cut down, light shines
on smaller trees that had previously been in the shade. “I wasn’t here last
season, I never really played with Thierry, but I think that isa good image.”
We speak, too, of heroes and that he has never had any. He doesn’t believe in
hero worship and the only time you find him on his knees is to celebrate a
goal. Has anyone ever impressed him? “That’s a very good question.” He
laughs heartily but cannot come up with a name. “My friends say, ‘Nicklas,
whenever you decide to praise someone, we will listen’.” The rest of us
shall be watching.
England awaits Peter Wilson
With six Englishmen now in Arsenal’s first-team squad, Arsène Wenger’s
determination to invest in home-grown talent is starting to pay off. Those
players preparing to break the foreign domination at the Emirates are:
Justin Hoyte, aged 23. This England Under-21 international remains
second-choice right back, but he can fi ll in at centre-back, as he did
against Tottenham last Wednesday night
Gavin Hoyte, 17. Another member of the Hoyte sporting family.
Successful captain of the Arsenal under18s last season and this defender,
like his brother, is very fast
Henri Lansbury, 17. Might have the French spelling for his first name,
but this midfielder has been with the club since he was nine. A key player
for the England Under17s
Mark Randall, 18. A creative midfielder who was a late substitute in
the Carling Cup semifi nal against Tottenham
Kieran Gibbs, 18, right. Best wide left, has made a good impression in
his limited fi first-team outings
Theo Walcott, 18. Signed from Southampton for £5m two years ago and
was thrust into the limelight as a surprise call-up for England’s 2006 World
Cup fi nals squad. Progress, though, has been painfully slow
