Aston Villa star Martin Laursen set to quit game

Apr 24 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN Laursen will hang up his boots and retire from football in what is clearly a hammer blow for Villa.

The 31 year-old has been faced with the heartbreak of quitting since suffering a setback in his recovery from a knee operation during Villa’s sunshine training camp in Dubai last month.

Sources suggest he has come to terms with the fact he must retire as he faced six months out with a further knee operation, although the player says a public announcement is still some days away.

“I would like to have a nice life after football. Hopefully, I have many years left in me to live, so of course I’m thinking of how much I want to put pressure on my knee to come back,” Laursen said today.

Laursen says Villa boss Martin O’Neill has left it completely in his hands as to whether he plays again.

“I feel so good at Aston Villa and enjoy my work with Martin O’Neill. It’s a club moving in the right direction, and I have never played better than I have for this club,” he said.

“If it should end now, then I also think I can say I have had a good career that I can be proud of.

‘‘It would, of course, be sad but I will soon be 32, so if it should all end then I’m okay with that too.” 

Laursen is likely to return to Denmark and continue in football in some capacity.

“I think that when you’ve been in the business of football and it’s aways been your life, then it will probably also be hard to go to another business,’’ he said.