NICKLAS BENDTNER

CLUBS

 2005-14 Arsenal

2006-07 Birmingham (loan)

2011-12 Sunderland (loan)

2012-13 Juventus (loan)

2014-16 Wolfsburg

2016-17 Nottingham Forest

2017-19 Rosenborg

2019 Copenhagen

2020- Tarnby FF (M+32)

COUNTRY

2006-18 Denmark

In 2004, when Nicklas Bendtner was just 16, his father Thomas asked FC Copenhagen’s director of football if he could match the enticing offer they had received from Arsenal. Niels-Christian Holmstrom refused to negotiate. “It will all go to s**t for your son!” he declared. “He’ll never make it in England. No Dane ever has.”

But over the next 16 years, Bendtner proved him wrong. He scored 45 goals in 171 matches for Arsenal, featured for Juventus, Sunderland, Birmingham, Wolfsburg and Rosenborg, and became Denmark’s eighth-highest scorer with an impressive 30 goals from 81 caps.

And yet, for all of his achievements, there is also a nagging sense of regret about Bendtner’s career. As it turns out, the man himself can’t quite shift the feeling that he never truly fulfilled his precocious talent either. He admits his “wild years” were between 2006 and 2016 – virtually his entire career – when curiosity, his weakness for girls and enjoyment of good times helped to undermine his football.

Now, though, he’s ready to discuss it all with FourFourTwo. The 32-year-old is candid and relaxed as he answers your questions about Arsene Wenger, sponsored pants, car crashes, betting and being under house arrest. There’s plenty to unpack...

You grew up in Amager, which has the delightful nickname ‘S**t Island’. Why is that the case, and how did it shape you as a youngster?

Tim Forstaff, Stocksbridge

[Smiles] It’s called S**t Island because that’s where all the sewers run to from Copenhagen – that’s how it earned the name. I had a really happy childhood, but I was never a kid who was happy sitting still. I always needed something to keep my mind occupied. I wasn’t very fond of school – I always wanted to play football with my mates.

Why did a team-mate piss all over your clothes when you were young?

Alfie Bexon, via Twitter

[] When I was young, I usually played with guys who were a couple of years older than me,