Christian Nørgaard

A defensive midfielder, Nørgaard began his career in his native Denmark with BK Heimdal and Espergærde IF, before entering the youth system at Lyngby in 2008.[3] He progressed to win three calls into the first team squad during the 2011–12 season and made his only senior appearance for the club as a substitute in a 2–2 Superliga draw with HB Køge on 20 November 2011.[4] Two months later, Nørgaard transferred to Bundesliga club Hamburger SV for a €400,000 fee and signed a three-and-a-half year contract.[5] He was unable to settle at the club and failed to make any first team appearances before his departure in August 2013.[3] He gained his first regular experience of senior football with 22 appearances for the reserve team.[4]

On 21 August 2013, it was announced that Nørgaard had joined Danish Superliga club Brøndby on a four-year contract.[6] After making 13 appearances during the 2013–14 season,[7] he thereafter was a regular fixture in the team and signed a new two-and-a-half year contract in January 2017.[8] Nørgaard was named as Brøndby's Player of the Year for the 2017 calendar year and won the first silverware of his career with the 2017–18 Danish Cup.[9][1] Nørgaard became a cult hero at the club and by the time of his departure in July 2018,[10] he had made 145 appearances and scored 11 goals.[4]

On 19 July 2018, Nørgaard moved to Italy to sign for Serie A club Fiorentina for a fee of approximately €3.5 million.[11] He signed a four-year contract,[12] but made just six appearances before departing the club in May 2019.[13][14]

On 28 May 2019, Nørgaard moved to England to join Championship club Brentford on a four-year contract, with the option of an additional year, for an undisclosed fee,[14] reported to be £2.8 million.[15] The move reunited him with his former Brøndby and Denmark youth coach Thomas Frank.[16] Used as a screening midfielder in front of the defence,[17] Nørgaard made 45 appearances during the 2019–20 season,[18] which ended with defeat in the 2020 Championship play-off Final.[19] In September 2020, he signed a new four-year contract, with the option of a further year.[20]

Nørgaard began the 2020–21 season as a virtual ever-present in midfield and winning senior international recognition with Denmark,[21][22] but an ankle injury suffered during a match versus Preston North End on 4 October 2020 prevented him from making only one appearance during the following four months.[21][23][24][25]