Michael Svensson
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Svensson | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre Back | ||
Michael Svensson (born 25 November 1975) is a Swedish professional football player who plays as a central defender and is captain of Southampton. He also played in the F.A. Cup final in 2003, losing 1-0 to Arsenal.
Early career
Svensson started his career in his home country, playing for various Swedish clubs including IFK Värnamo and Halmstads BK. He began to be noticed by bigger clubs when Halmstads BK won the Swedish championship in 2000.
He was transferred to Troyes in 2001 and then moved to Southampton in 2002.
Southampton
Svensson arrived at Southampton just after being a member of Sweden's squad at the 2002 World Cup. He immediately struck up a rapport with Claus Lundekvam at the centre of the Saints defence. He is a tough tackling, no nonsense centre-half but likes to play the ball out of defence and get forward to help out in attack.
Svensson holds the honour of scoring the last ever competitive goal at Maine Road on 11 May 2003, won by Southampton 1-0.
Due to a serious knee injury sustained at the end of the 2003-04 season, he missed the entire 2004-05 season. He returned to action in October 2005 but, after only seven games, he broke down again and remained out of action for the remainder of the 2005-06 season. Killer, as he is nicknamed by the fans, failed to return to full fitness in time for the start of the 2006-07 championship season due to a kick in the knee during an Aldershot reserves game in the 2006 pre-season. Since then, he has flown to Germany to continue treatment with FC Bayern Munich doctor Hans Müller-Wolfhart[1] On 23 May 2007, it was announced that Svensson would undergo further surgery in an attempt to save his career. The procedure will put him out of action for at least a year throwing a major question mark over his future. By then it will be the best part of four years since he played regularly[2] His contract with the Saints expired on 30 June 2007, and was not renewed as Southampton face up to the financial realities of a third season in the Championship.
Southampton hope that Svensson will return in the Summer of 2008 and Svensson himself has stated he wouldn't want to play for any other club. He is believed to have had 'Last resort' surgery on his knee. Should this not work, the Swede will be forced to retire.
On 2 July 2008, Southampton announced that Svensson "could be on the verge of a remarkable footballing comeback" following a visit to a specialist rehabilitation centre in Italy in the summer. Svensson is again in training and could be re-signed by Southampton for the 2008–09 season.[3] He completed a pre-season friendly against Winchester City on 13 July, and is therefore in with a chance of making a full recovery from his injury. He captained the Southampton side which drew 2-2 with West Ham in the Ted Bates Trophy.
On 7 August 2008 he agreed terms with Southampton and was appointed club captain. Two days later, he completed his remarkable comeback, playing 90 minutes in Southampton's first Championship match of the season, a 2-1 loss against Cardiff City. A week later and prior to the home game against Birmingham City, Southampton and Svensson agreed terms signing a 12 months contract plus one year extension.
In a match against Birmingham City Svensson attempted to square up against Birmingham City's James McFadden. After McFadden had showed his anger at a late tackle on Tunisian midfielder Mehdi Nafti that required the player to have treatment and then be substituted. However McFadden merely shoved the player out of the way however the incident did cause some controversy.
International career
He made his debut in the Swedish national team on August 17 1999 against Austria. He was a member of the Swedish squad for the 2002 World Cup, where he was not played. He has 25 caps for his country.
Honours
- FA Cup finalist 2003
References
- ^ "Killer question". saintsfc.co.uk. Retrieved December 21.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "D Day for Killer". saintsfc.co.uk. Retrieved May 25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Svensson fitness boost". saintsfc.co.uk. 2 July 2008. Retrieved July 3.
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External links
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