Goodbye Henrik Larsson …
So, farewell Henrik Larsson.
Your last act for United was to get yourself booked for a blatant dive against Middlesbrough but that will not be the abiding memory fans have of your contribution. Instead, it would be the excellent positioning between two defenders, the classic arc of the neck, the perfect head-meets-ball connection with Cristiano Ronaldo’s pinpoint cross and the delight of 70,000 fans as you scored the winner against Lille.
With that goal alone, you justified the £1.25 million in wages you received during these past three months of your loan deal. Everyone but a few nutters in the blogosphere thought you’d be a good signing and this you have proved. It just seems a shame that you are going now when the season is so delicately poised. It made no sense to bring you in and let you leave in March and it makes even less sense now that United have been caught short by a striker crisis.
Most players leave United by the back door, like thieves in the night, unwanted and discarded. In living memory, only Andrei Kancheslskis, Eric Cantona and Roy Keane have walked out on United when still considered top performers by the manager. You’ll be leaving to the sound of tributes ringing in your ears, with none greater than Sir Alex’s declaration that he would do “anything” to keep you. Most people would sell their mothers into slavery for the chance you spurn so easily!
You say you are leaving because your family needs you and you’ve signed a contract with your hometown club Helsingborgs and they need you. In an age when newspapers tell us that footballers believe in nothing but Bling and Bentleys, riches and roasting, all this talk of family concerns and loyalty to contract made you seem like a man from another era. Maybe those Rasta dreadlocks you used to sport really were evidence of a deeper serenity and not just a fashion statement? But have you really turned your back on the chance of a Premiership winners medal and perhaps a FA Cup and Euro gong to play pantomime horse with your kids?
You’ve brought the best out of Rooney and had us all talking like BBC pundits as we commented on your “intelligent link-up play” and “movement off the ball.” You scored three goals in total and slotted so well into the first team that you gave the lie to how difficult it is for foreign players – Ballack and Shevchenko take note – to adapt to English football. No-one at Old Trafford seemed surprised by the ease with which you displaced Louis Saha, who conveniently fell victim to long-anticipated leg injuries. His absence matters now that you are on your way.
Sometimes, like at Arsenal and Liverpool, you disappeared in games and hardly touched the ball but then I suppose at 35 years of age, economy is your watchword. It would have been great to see you in your prime, especially as a direct replacement for Diego Forlan, who was a tireless troubler of spectators with his close-range shooting.
Still, at least Sir Alex will not have to add you to a list that includes Ronaldhino, Gazza and er..David Hirst! You came to Old Trafford and leave with your reputation enhanced.
As Sir Alex says, you’ve been a credit to yourself. You played the PR game like an old pro, bigging-up the likes of Rooney and Ronaldo as worldbeaters on a par with Ronaldhino and also showing respect to the old stagers like Scholes, Giggs and Neville who perhaps have just one last campaign left in them.
When United announced your signing, all that was expected was that you’d be a useful addition to the squad, that you would compete with the strikers for goals and that after three months, United would be well-placed in every competition.
Mission accomplished Henrik Larsson. AU
