Arsenal are all set to complete the signing of Christian Norgaard.
The Gunners wanted to sign a new midfielder to replace Jorginho, who signed for Flamengo a few weeks before his contract expired.
Arsenal decided against signing Lucien Agoume because Mikel Arteta wanted a more experienced option. Brentford skipper Norgaard was viewed as perfect, and the deal is now done.
Christian Norgaard will be just the fifth Danish player ever to play for Arsenal. Chido Obi and Mika Biereth were also from Denmark, but they never played for the senior team.
The last Dane to do so, however, was quite a character — Nicklas Bendtner.
Nicklas Bendtner was involved in a major bust-up with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry
Nicklas Bendtner is a cult hero among Arsenal fans.
The Dane joined the Gunners as a teenager back in 2004 and had to wait a while before he got to make his debut under Arsene Wenger a year later.
Before he became an established player, Bendtner was a part of the Arsenal reserves and was called up to train with the first team on several occasions.
Training with legends like Thierry Henry is a dream for any young striker, and Bendtner got the opportunity to live that dream. However, it quickly turned into a nightmare.
“Henry tells me to shut up, this time with a lot of swear words included,” Bendtner wrote in his book.
“And in hindsight it is good advice. But I am not taking it on. I shout back. He confronts me, yells into my face, says all kinds of things. But that is not the end of it. After training Henry comes after me.”
Bendtner admitted that Henry put him in his place, but the chat they had after the bust-up is something that the Dane remembers very well.
“Thierry was probably the biggest star in the league at that time and his record speaks for itself. Looking back now, I can see that I was out of order. My head was different back then. We had this little dispute where he puts me right in my place.
“After, he put his arm around me and said ‘listen I need to explain a few things about how this works’. That gave me a lot of respect for the guy. I thought that was really big.
“For three months I didn’t train with them [the first team] and that was my lesson. It showed me and I knew to shut it. It helped me a lot. I was 16 at this point.”
Nicklas Bendtner’s new career after retiring from football
After leaving Arsenal permanently, Bendtner played for Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest, Rosenborg and Copenhagen before hanging up his boots in January 2020.
The Dane enjoyed life for a few years, but he did not forget about his future.
In 2024, Bendtner launched an esports investment company called Legendary Gaming Group, who secured a venue in Denmark’s Parken Stadium.
Dubbed the Legendary Arena Copenhagen, it will be used as the company’s HQ and will focus on esports education and professional training.
“I am really pleased with the team we have assembled at Legendary and look forward to being part of something bigger in an industry I am fascinated by,” Bendtner said in a press release last year.
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