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Thomas Gravesen
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Thomas Gravesen (born March 11, 1976 in Vejle) is a Danish
professional football (soccer) player who operates as a
defensive midfielder for Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid. For
the Denmark national football team, Gravesen has been capped 60
times, scoring 5 goals, and he has been a constant part of the
Danish team under coach Morten Olsen.
Gravesen's career started in 1995 with hometown club Vejle
Boldklub (VB) in the Danish Superliga, alongside a handful of
youths making it through the VB youth scheme, including good
friend Kaspar Dalgas. At VB, Thomas Gravesen would play both as
a sweeper and defensive midfielder, and after he won silver
medals in the 1996-97 Superliga season, Gravesen moved to German
team Hamburger SV in 1997, where he would debut for the Danish
national team in 1998, and in 2000 he went to Everton F.C.,
where he quickly became a favourite amongst the fans.
While at Everton, Gravesen would be selected to play for Denmark
at the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000) by coach Bo
Johansson, despite concern from Johansson that he was "psychologically
unstable". New Denmark coach Morten Olsen would fully support
Gravesen and made him one of his pivotal players in the 2002
World Cup and the Euro 2004 campaigns, though Gravesen and his
partner in the Danish midfield duo, Stig Tøfting, would justify
their pit bull images when they ganged up to play a prank on
teammate Jesper Grønkjær at a 2002 World Cup training session.
Gravesen played a key role in Everton's rise to the upper
reaches of the 2004/05 Premiership table, from his position as
an attacking midfielder, however as his contract was due to
expire in the summer of 2005 enabling him to leave for free,
Everton sold Gravesen to Real Madrid for a fee of £2.5 million,
on January 14, 2005. At Real Madrid, he would find immidiate
success, as he scored in his debut match, a 4-0 win against RCD
Espanyol. However, Gravesen would eventually find himself
benched, and following public outcry over his tough style of
play and the sack of Real coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo and
sporting director Arrigo Sacchi, who were in charge of acquiring
Gravesen, he looked ready to leave Real Madrid in the winter of
2005. However, new coach López Caro would revive Gravesen's
career at Real, picking him regularly. |
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