From scoring goals in the Premier League to hosting Danish TV’s equivalent of the MTV classic Punk’D, playing pranks on celebrities and members of the public. From a wealthy to a no-cash man. From a painkiller addict to a gym rat. That’s the story of Nicklas Bendtner, a Danish striker who played for Arsenal, Birmingham, Sunderland, Juventus, Wolfsburg, Nottingham Forest, Rosenborg and Copenhagen. The colourful attacker spent his best years at Arsenal and still admits he misses the comradery, games, dressing room atmosphere and full stadiums, and he is trying to compensate for that loss with some other form of adrenaline boost.🇩🇰Nicklas Bendtner i jego twarze… 🧵⬇️🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/Hgr9WxgZGz— 🇩🇰Lego Futbol🇩🇰 (@FutbolLego) May 29, 2024 In an interview with Daily Mail, former Gunner, who still attends matches at the Emirates, talked about his playing days and lifestyle.”Football was my first, second and third thing. The only time I was free and felt special was on the grass. You felt part of something bigger. That was my happiest moment in my life, nothing else compares to it. The periods when you are not in the team then you are more prone to make a bad decision. I miss my teammates, the locker room, being on the field, playing games, going to big stadiums. You can’t find that adrenaline anywhere. Believe me, I tried to find something like that. I still do, but I’ll never find it. But I live a fantastic life right now. I have been diving for three years and I love it. And the next challenge is to climb Everest. I have to find something that makes me happy. I traveled for a year after retiring. I hate living without a purpose” he explained his quest for adrenaline (and purpose).Chaotic life of Lord Bendtner – he fell out with dad after getting 2,500% pay rise at ArsenalHis career at Arsenal had its ups and downs, but Bendtner certainly knows when it all went downhill – when he had a car crash in 2009, just before a game against Olympiacos in the Champions League.”It was an Aston Martin DBS, grey, James Bond. F*cking great car. So stylish. Still my favourite car. That was my best period at Arsenal, playing on the right side with Andrey Arshavin on the left, and Robin van Persie up front. I was playing every week and after the crash I was never really the same. All of a sudden, I couldn’t go five games at 100 per cent” he revealed. One show, three hats…Just Nicklas Bendtner things. 😂 pic.twitter.com/EKSNIn2D5m— Danish Scout (@DanishScout_) February 19, 2024 Just after that, he became addicted to painkillers.”When you play with pain and start popping pills then it’s a very slippery slope. I needed them to play because of the pain. I took them continuously for about two years. The problem was that I couldn’t train without them. I read up on the side effects and everything that happened to me was all the side effects of taking them for too long. It affected my mood, it affected how I was as a person. In the end I had to come off it. I should never really have started. They’re accessible everywhere. You can ask the doctor for some, he will say “no” and then you get them anyway. If a player knows he can take three or four of those pills and play in a Champions League semi-final then that’s what he’s gonna do. I would have taken 10” he admitted.The Gunners need what he has and he would love to give it to themThe striker scored 47 goals in 171 appearances for the Gunners, and became famous for his pink boots and the fastest-scored goal as a sub (after six seconds in the 2006 North London derby), but was also went bankrupt and was placed under house arrest in 2020 and had to wear an electronic tag for assaulting a taxi driver.”On the back seats of the Denmark bus, all the older players would always talk about wine. I collected wine since I was 19. When the team met on Monday we would all bring one bottle and taste it. We would have four glasses on the Monday night and talk about the wine. I’ve got something like 50 thousand bottles of wine now. You know Romanee-Conti? £15,000 per bottle, £140,000 per case. You would buy one case to sell and one to drink. When I was 24 I had spent basically all I had but I had bought wine, property, art. The cash flow completely broke. I was left quite alone with my money. I had a lot of support in the club but not so much outside of the pitch. One of the beautiful things I love about myself is that I like to experience different things. I will never say “No, I don’t want to try” – I would rather go and try it. The money goes fast when you buy £150,000 wine” he explained.##NAJAVA_MECA_8136659##
