Aston Villa's Martin Laursen retires from football

[Nosferatu]

Aston Villa's Martin Laursen retires from football

• Knee injury forces Villa captain to hang up his boots
• Laursen 'will be a huge loss to the players, manager and fans'

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    * guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 May 2009 12.09 BST
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Martin Laursen

Aston Villa's Martin Laursen in action earlier this season. Photograph: Simon Dawson/AP

The Aston Villa central defender Martin Laursen has retired at the age of 31. The club captain has suffered from long-standing problems with his knees and has decided to hang up his boots rather than undergo further surgery.

"The retirement of the lionheart defender will be a huge loss to the players, the manager and the fans," said the club in a statement.

The Danish international joined Villa from Milan in 2004 and made 91 appearances for the club, the majority of those coming in the past two years. Injuries restricted him to 12 Premier League starts in 2004-05 and 2006-07 and just one in 2005-06. Laursen's last appearance for the club came in Villa's 2-1 win over West Brom in January.

[mouse]

Sad news always rated him when he was fit to play. Huge loss for Villa. He must have sored about 10 goals in them 91 games as well, very dangerous player from corners and free kicks

[kopdude]

Will be difficult for them to replace him. 

[Nerik]

A friend of mine who is a massive Villa fan and on good terms with the club told me this some 2 weeks ago. Sad to hear that.

[Nosferatu]

It is a massive loss and they essentially collapsed when he went. However he has been difficult to depend on because of his injuries so in one sense, it will be better for them to draw a line under it and just get a good quality replacement in. Hard to justify it when he's still playing now and again. But it is sad news.