20 Years; 20 Players: No.15 Claus Jensen
I am moving slowly through my 20 Places and 20 Players to help me celebrate 20 Years of writing this Blog. No order, no rankings.
We are back to Players, and my no. 15 is Claus Jensen.
In my mind only two players in my lifetime were technically better footballers that Claus Jenson to wear a Charlton shirt. They are Allan Simonsen and Paulo Di Canio.
We signed the Dane from Bolton as he was reaching the peak of his career for what was then a record fee of £4 million.
Claus combined skill with work rate, which was a must for anyone that played under Curbs. He would literally float across the grass with the ball at his feet and would appear in all four corners of the pitch.
The expectation in a packed Valley when he was on the ball was electrifying but he saved some his best moments for on the road. That outrageous goal at Highbury, the ‘tackled’ goal at Maine Road and the instinctive cheeky one at Old Trafford.
Then there was the curler against United at The Valley and the last minute volley at home to Blackburn seconds after Brad Friedel had equalized.
His set-plays, his passing range, his nonchalant grace. What a player ‘Santa’ was.
Claus is now managing 2nd tier Danish side Nykøbing, his hometown club, which he also invested in a few years back.
Appearances 122. Goals 16 (2000 – 2004)
I often find I see players differently to others (I could type a list)
Jensen couldn’t tackle, couldn’t head a ball and had little pace.
What he did have was a terrific vision and dead-ball/crossing ability and as you say he had the ability to appear almost anywhere on the pitch. Overall he was what is sometimes described as a luxury player. Does this mean I wouldn’t have played him? Not so likely! He was an asset in a good team, as we had then. He would have struggled in a poor team.
Great goal at Leeds, admittedly we lost 5-2
I respected Jensen for his technical skill but he let himself down with his poor fitness level.