English Premier League - Player Profile: Sebastian Larsson
Sebastian Bengt Ulf Larsson is a Swedish national footballer, who currently players for Birmingham F.C in the English Premier League. Larsson is famous for his free kick deliveries as well as his crossing ability. His first English club was Arsenal F.C which is based in London but soon he transferred to a smaller club, namely Birmingham.
Larsson started his career at IFK Eskilstuna in Sweden; IFK was his home town club as the midfielder was born in the city of Eskilstuna. His youth was spent playing junior league football for his home town’s club side. After Arsenal’s scouts spotted his talents while he was on international duty with Sweden, the young Swedish winger joined the London club when he was just sixteen years old. He was given his debut against Manchester City on the 27th of October, 2004. In his first match for the gunners, Sebastian played as a left back.
However, his lack of pace for a winger was disturbing and because he was not a natural left back either, Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger sent Sebastian on loan to Birmingham City, the loan deal that was stuck between the two English clubs also included an option to make Larsson’s switch to Birmingham permanent at the end of his loan spell.
The main reason for his eventually departure from Arsenal seemed to be that, Wenger liked quick players in his side, which was built mainly around pace. A player like Larsson who took his time on the ball did not fit in Arsene’s club line up and therefore in January of 2007, Larsson’s move to Birmingham City was made made permanent as the Swedish star footballer signed a four year deal worth a transfer fee of around one million pounds.
Larsson’s first goals for City came against Crystal Palace and Shrewsbury Town respectively. He also managed to get himself a couple of goals against Newcastle United, in a F.A Cup match. Sebastian scored one of the most brilliant goals in Birmingham City’s football history against Sheffield Wednesday in April of 2007; his goal against Sheffield was eventually declared as the goal of the season at the club.
Larsson’s usual place in the Birmingham starting lineup was as a right sided winger. This position was held by him regularly throughout the 2006-2007 English Premier League season but he also played as a full back whenever the team needed him to do so, depending on the amount of injuries in the squad.
Sebastian has shown at Birmingham that Arsenal were wrong to part ways with him early on in his career, his consistent performances for the lowly rated English club has earned him praise through the english footballing setup. He has also made himself famous due to his free kick delivery, which has caused people to call him the Swedish David Beckham. Currently, Sebastian is taking part in Birmingham’s pre-season training process. He will definitely be looking to do well with Birmingham come the start of the new Premier League season on 14th of August, 2010.
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