Nicklas Bendtner

Youth career

Bendtner was born in Copenhagen. As a child, he played football for Tårnby Boldklub before joining F.C. Copenhagen's feeder club Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (KB) in 1998. He scored four goals in six Danish national youth team matches, before joining English club Arsenal in August 2004.

Arsenal

Bendtner formed a prolific strike partnership in the Arsenal reserves with Arturo Lupoli. His first-team debut for Arsenal came on 25 October 2005 in a League Cup match against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, as a late substitute for Quincy Owusu-Abeyie.

Loan to Birmingham City

Bendtner was loaned to Championship team Birmingham City in August 2006 to gain first team experience; the loan initially ran until January 2007. He made his debut for Birmingham as a substitute for Stephen Clemence against Colchester United on 5 August. He played the final half-hour and scored the winning goal. The loan at Birmingham was extended until the end of the 2006–07 season. He finished with eleven league goals as Birmingham were promoted to the Premier League as Championship runners-up.

2007–08 season

Bendtner signed a new five-year contract with Arsenal in May 2007, and returned to the club for the 2007–08 Premier League season. After impressing at Birmingham, the teenage striker was presented with opportunities to seek first-team football elsewhere, with reports that Olympique Lyonnais and Milan wanted the promising teenager, but he stayed on in…

Youth

Bendtner started his international career with three matches for the Denmark under-16 team in February 2004. During his third game he scored a hat-trick against Armenia. He then scored six goals in 15 appearances for the under-17s, and was named Danish Under-17 Player of the Year for 2004. Bendtner made his under-21 debut on 17 May 2006, at the age of 18, scoring both goals in a Danish 2–0 victory over Spain in a friendly match. He was the youngest player selected for Denmark's squad for the 2006 European Under-21 Championships, and replaced Morten "Duncan" Rasmussen in the Danish starting line-up. When Rasmussen came on to replace Bendtner during the match against the Netherlands, Bendtner told the press afterwards that the change was a mistake and that he was a better striker than Rasmussen. He received a reprimand, apologised to his teammates, and retained the starting position for Denmark's remaining group match before they were eliminated.

Senior

Early career and UEFA Euro 2008 qualification

On 16 August 2006, Bendtner made his first senior appearance for Denmark; aged 18 years and 212 days, he was the seventh youngest debutant ever. He started the match, a friendly against Poland, and scored after 32 minutes, helping Denmark to a 2–0 win. On 1 September, he played his second senior match for his country, as a substitute in a friendly against Portugal. He scored the final goal in a 4–2 win for Denmark. Although he still qualified to…

Bendtner was a versatile forward capable of playing in several attacking positions. Although his preferred role was as a centre-forward, he has also been used out wide on either flank. A large, tall, and physically strong player, he was known for his ability in the air and possessed a powerful header. Considered a promising but undisciplined player in his youth, he was regarded as "a player blessed with a fabulous all-round talent", and a quick, intelligent, and hard-working striker, with a good positional sense, first touch, tactical awareness, and an ability to score goals or hold up the ball and create chances. His former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger once labelled Bendtner as a potentially "unstoppable striker", and also described him as a player who as a youngster was "good in the air", and who had "good technique, good stature, good pace, ... good link play", also adding that "he had it all in the locker." Despite his talent and confidence in his abilities, Bendtner often struggled with injuries, which limited his fitness; he was also criticised in the media for his perceived arrogance, mentality, and inconsistency, as well as his off-field antics, and as a result, he has been accused of failing to live up to his potential.

In November 2009, Bendtner was seen in Hyde Park with former Baroness Caroline Iuel-Brockdorff, a socialite and close friend of the Danish royal family. The couple met when Iuel-Brockdorff was filmed renovating her family home, Valdemar's Castle, on a reality show. Bendtner was a guest and they did a photoshoot together to promote his appearance. In December 2010, Iuel-Brockdorff gave birth to Bendtner's son at London's Portland Hospital. The couple separated soon afterwards. Bendtner has a cult following who refer to him as "Lord Bendtner". In March 2015, Danish celebrity tabloid Se og Hør bought him a square foot of land in Scotland to bestow him the title of "Lord", and according to his agent, he considered it a "fun gimmick". Bendtner has also taken part in the joke, uploading on Instagram a poster of him holding the Ballon d'Or and running as a candidate for Prime Minister in the June 2015 Danish election. During his time at Rosenborg, Bendtner was dubbed "Emperor" as Mushaga Bakenga was already nicknamed "Lord" at Rosenborg. In November 2018, Bendtner was sentenced to 50 days in prison in Denmark for assaulting a taxi driver. On 21 November, Bendtner and his lawyer dropped the appeal, accepting that Bendtner will serve his sentence either in jail or house arrest. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bendtner began playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and became the owner of a small CSGO team called Prosapia Esport. In November 2022, he participated in a showmatch at the…