How good was Henrik Larsson?

Many people call Henrik Larsson one of the greatest players to ever play for Celtic and in Scottish football. In his home country of Sweden he is a national treasure and an idol, thought of as every bit as gifted as Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his homeland.

He's played for 3 of the most famous and iconic clubs in football, albeit only briefly for one of them. He was the European golden boot winner in 2001, was named in the team of the tournament at EURO 2004, he is the all time leading UEFA cup/Europa league leading goal scorer (40 goals), was named the greatest Swedish footballer of the last 50 years in 2003 and the all time best Swedish footballer in 2005. He's been awarded an OBE by the queen and is a member of the Scottish football hall of fame, having scored 174 goals in 221 games for Celtic. He has many more personal achievements and awards to his name than I can spend the time listing here, and is thought of by many as one of the very best forward of the last 25 years.

However, there are many who would (and do) claim that Henrik Larsson's abilities were exaggerated by plying in a league inferior to his talents, and that by staying with Celtic and plying his trade in the SPL through his peak years, that he never truly tested himself when he was at his best at the highest level.

In my opinion, Henrik Larsson was one of the very best players around in his day, and being triple marked every game you played because you were not just your teams star, but the leagues star attraction and still being able to score a goal almost every 98 minutes like he did was a braver and more rewarding decision for him than moving to a club in England, Spain, Italy or wherever and being just a piece of the machine. At Celtic, he WAS Celtic. He was the player who would win them trophies, in spite of being marked by half a team every game.

When he went to Barcelona, he was almost 34, well past his best and never going to be a key player in their attack at that age. Barcelona still wanted him and when his initial year with them was up, they wasted no time in getting him signed up again for another season. They even tried to keep him for a 3rd year, with the clubs president Joan Laporta directly trying to convince him to stay on. But Larsson decided he wanted to retire in Sweden and would not be convinced.

On his departure, Ronaldinho, one of the most exciting and gifted players ever, had this to say;

"With Henrik leaving us at the end of the season this club is losing a great scorer, no question. But I am also losing a great friend. Henrik was my idol and now that I am playing next to him it is fantastic."

In Larsson's final game for Barcelona, he won his first UEFA Champions League medal. Larsson came on as a substitute and assisted both of Barcelona's goals in a 2–1 win over Arsenal. Thierry Henry paid tribute to Larsson's contribution to Barcelona's win after the game, saying;

"People always talk about Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Giuly and everything, but I didn't see them today, I saw Henrik Larsson. He came on, he changed the game, that is what killed the game. Sometimes you talk about Ronaldinho and Eto'o and people like that; you need to talk about the proper footballer who made the difference, and that was Henrik Larsson tonight."

When he finally arrived at Manchester United, during the Swedish leagues off season on January 1st 2007, I was over the moon. Henrik Larsson was finally going to play for Manchester United. It didn't matter that he was closer to 40 than 30, I was going to get the chance to see Henrik Larsson in a United shirt. He played for us for only a shade over 2 months on a short term loan, and scored 3 goals in 13 games for the club.

While United were eager to extend the loan deal, Larsson stated that he had made a promise to his family and his club to return on 12 March. This was confirmed on 20 February, when Larsson announced that he would not be extending his loan period. Despite this, Sir Alex Ferguson was full of praise for the striker during his three-month stay, saying;

"He's been fantastic for us, his professionalism, his attitude, everything he's done has been excellent. "We would love him to stay but, obviously, he has made his promise to his family and Helsingborg and I think we should respect that – but I would have done anything to keep him."

Henrik Larsson, one of my favourite players ever. A player who was defined by loyalty and ability in equal measure, and never brought an ounce of negativity to any club who's jersey he pulled on.

Henrik Larsson

But what are your thought? Over to you.