Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Biography

Ole Gunnar Solskjær (born February 26, 1973) is a Norwegian (Norwegian: A Scandinavian language that is spoken in Norway) football (football: Any of various games played with a ball (round or oval) in which two teams try to kick or carry or propel the ball into each other's goal) player who currently plays for Manchester United (Manchester United: more facts about this subject) (since July 1996). Before he came to England (England: A division of the United Kingdom) , he played for Clausenengen F.K. and Molde F.K. (Molde F.K.: molde f.k. is a premier division football club from molde, norway....
[follow hyperlink for more...]) . He is married and has two children. Solskjær is 1.78m tall and weighs 74kg.

When Alex Ferguson (Alex Ferguson: more facts about this subject) failed to sign Alan Shearer (Alan Shearer: alan shearer, obe (born august 13 1970) is a successful english footballer....
[follow hyperlink for more...]) , he went to sign this unknown Norwegian striker. Solskjær had scored 31 goals in 42 matches for Molde F.K. in the Norwegian Premier League (Norwegian Premier League: the norwegian premier league is the top football league division in norway....
[follow hyperlink for more...]) , and he did not disappoint at the start of his United career, scoring six minutes into his debut as a substitute against Blackburn (Blackburn: Black-and-white North American wood warbler having an orange-and-black head and throat) in the Premiership (Premiership: The office of premier) .

Solskjær scored 18 Premiership goals for United in the first season helping United to the title in the last weeks of the season. The British media nicknamed him the "Baby-Faced Assassin" because of his youthful looks and the deadly finishing. He has an ability as a super-sub as well, and gained praises for coming on and scoring four goals in the last seventeen minutes of United's 8-1 thrashing of Nottingham Forest (Nottingham Forest: nottingham forest f.c. are an english football (soccer) |football club, based at the...
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Ole enjoys life at Old Trafford (Old Trafford: old trafford football stadium (given the nickname the theatre of dreams by bobby...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) and didn't leave the club when a offer of £5.5m came from Spurs (Spurs: A sharp prod fixed to a rider's heel and used to urge a horse onward) , among others in 1998. United fans were mightily grateful, as the slightly built Norwegian went on to score the winning goal in the Champions League (Champions League: more facts about this subject) Final in 1999. He is a firm favourite, inspiring many songs from "Who put the ball in the German's net?" to (to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine") "You are my Solskjær."

He finally got the chance as a starter in 2001/02, alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy (Ruud van Nistelrooy: ruud van nistelrooy (full name rutgerus johannes martinus van nistelrooij, see letter...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) , and he took the chance with characteristic incisiveness, forcing Andrew Cole (Andrew Cole: more facts about this subject) and Dwight Yorke (Dwight Yorke: dwight yorke (born november 3, 1971 in canaan, tobago) is a trinidad and tobago...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) onto the subs bench, in his usual place.

By 2002/03, both Andrew Cole and Dwight Yorke had left Old Trafford and Solskjær had only the hardly-prolific Diego Forlán (Diego Forlán: more facts about this subject) to compete with for places, but Ferguson's persistence in playing van Nistelrooy up front on his own meant that opportunities were still limited.

However, he still got his chance when David Beckham (David Beckham: more facts about this subject) picked up an injury and the versatile Norwegian was played on the right wing. He proved himself to be a fine crosser of the ball, and still managed to pop up with crucial goals, sixteen in total for the season. It was testament to his brilliant form that he was selected to play on the right wing in crucial matches against Arsenal (Arsenal: A military structure where arms and ammunition and other military equipment are stored and training is given in the use of arms) and Real Madrid (Real Madrid: more facts about this subject) , while Beckham was left on the bench.

In 03-04, Solskjaer found himself in and out of the United squad as he struggled with a reccuring knee problem. With the arrival of Fulham (Fulham: more facts about this subject) 's Louis Saha (Louis Saha: louis saha (born august 8, 1978 in paris, france) is a french international...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) in January 2004, Solskjær found himself ousted from the United First team and returning to his original 'supersub' mantle, or indeed moving to an attacking midfield position. Solskjaer returned from injury in time to appear in the 2004 FA Cup final, which United won. However, the arrival of Alan Smith (Alan Smith: alan smith (born october 28, 1980 in rothwell, leeds, england) is an...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) in the summer of 2004 led to rumours that he was to leave Old Trafford, touted as one of several names, along with Nicky Butt (Nicky Butt: more facts about this subject) , who eventually went to Newcastle United (Newcastle United: newcastle united is an english professional football team based in newcastle upon tyne,...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) and David Bellion (David Bellion: david bellion (born 27th november, 1982) is a french football (soccer)|footballer,...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) offered as part-exchange for the impressive Wayne Rooney (Wayne Rooney: wayne rooney (born 24 october 1985) is a footballer who currently plays for manchester...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) . He underwent intensive knee surgery in early August 2004 which has resulted in him missing the entire 04-05 Premiership season. Despite United's heavyweight strikeforce conceivably limiting the 32-year-old's chances of playing even when he is fit again, the Old Trafford faithful still hope to see him play for United again.

To show Solskjær that he's not been forgotten while out injured, the United faithful have added a banner to the famous collection that lines the Stretford End reading "20 Legend." Solskjær recently became a patron of the fans action group Shareholders United (Shareholders United: shareholders united is a pressure group whose members are shareholding supporters of manchester...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) which is dedicated to fighting the takeover of Manchester United.

For Norway (Norway: A constitutional monarchy in northern Europe on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula; achieved independence from Sweden in 1905) , Solskjær played in the and and has appeared over 60 times for his country.