TEENAGE KICKS

New Gunners midfielder Norgaard has done a lot of growing up since his thunderous debut

- BY RYAN TAYLOR

JUST 12 minutes into his professional debut, a 17-year-old Christian Norgaard flattened the opposition goalkeeper with a crunching challenge.

The industrious Dane, who has now sealed a shock £12million transfer to Arsenal from Brentford, had entered the field for Lyngby in the closing stages of a highly contested relegation six-pointer against HB Koge.

Remarkably, it would represent his only senior appearance for the Danish outfit as a career-changing switch to German giants Hamburg beckoned.

Norgaard, 31, insists the lure of experiencing Champions League football at the Emirates was an opportunity too good to refuse.

That quote, delivered in his first interview as an Arsenal player, is reflective of the long-winding pathway the combative midfielder has trodden on his roller-coaster journey to the top.