Oyvind Leonhardsen
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Øyvind Leonhardsen | ||
| Date of birth | 17 August 1970 | ||
| Place of birth | Kristiansund, Norway | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1987–1989 | Clausenengen FK | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1991 | Molde | 64 | (9) |
| 1992–1994 | Rosenborg | 63 | (20) |
| 1994–1997 | Wimbledon | 78 | (13) |
| 1997–1999 | Liverpool | 37 | (7) |
| 1999–2002 | Tottenham Hotspur | 54 | (7) |
| 2002–2003 | Aston Villa | 19 | (3) |
| 2004–2005 | Lyn | 46 | (2) |
| 2006–2007 | Strømsgodset | 41 | (7) |
| Total | 402 | (68) | |
| National team | |||
| 1990–2003 | Norway | 86 | (19) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Øyvind Leonhardsen (born 17 August 1970) is a Norwegian former international footballer. He retired after the 2007 season, and at that moment he was captain of Strømsgodset IF in the Norwegian Premier Division, ending a career with nine years in English football with clubs like Wimbledon, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa. In Norway he played for Molde, Rosenborg, Lyn and Strømsgodset.
Leonhardsen started his career in Clausenengen before he, as a 19-year-old, moved to Premier Division side Molde in 1989. Two years later he was brought to Norwegian champions Rosenborg.
Leonhardsen won the honorable Kniksen award as the best midfielder in 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993. He was voted the Player's Player of the Year in Norway in 1994.
Leonhardsen moved to Wimbledon in the Premier League the following season, where he made an instant impact on the left wing. He spent three seasons with Wimbledon, playing on the left wing, and helped them reach the semi finals of both the FA Cup and Football League Cup in his final season there. He was sold to Liverpool for £3.5million in May 1997, and was initially a regular member of the first team under the management of Roy Evans.
After Gerard Houllier's continental revolution of Liverpool from 1999, Leonhardsen fell out of favour at Anfield and was sold to Tottenham Hotspur, before joining Aston Villa on a free transfer in August 2002.
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