Anders Lindegaard

Anders Rozenkrantz Lindegaard (born 13 April 1984) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He has earned five caps for the Denmark national team.

He made his Danish Superliga debut in a 3–1 victory against Silkeborg IF on 19 November 2006.

Lindegaard began his career with his hometown club, Odense Boldklub, but a lack of first-team opportunities led to a move to Norwegian club Aalesund in 2009, with whom he won the Norwegian Football Cup.

He made his UEFA competition debut on 30 July 2009, in a 4–3 win over Rabotnički.

During most of his time with OB, he was kept out of the team by Arek Onyszko, and he had two loan spells at Kolding FC, where he remained undefeated in the ten league games he got for the team, after it had lost the first four games of the season, and Aalesunds FK, who he would later join permanently.

When Onyszko was sacked by Odense in June 2009 due to him being convicted for assaulting his ex-wife, Lindegaard was seen as his replacement.

In 2009, he joined Norwegian club Aalesunds FK on loan and later permanently.

In 2009, he won the Norwegian Football Cup with Aalesund.

After winning the Goalkeeper of the Year award in both Denmark and Norway in 2010, Lindegaard was signed by Manchester United, where he played for five years as a back-up to Edwin van der Sar and David de Gea.

Lindegaard represented Denmark at under-19 and under-20 level before making his senior debut on 7 September 2010 against Iceland.

Born in the Dyrup suburb of Odense, Lindegaard started his career at local Danish Superliga team Odense Boldklub (OB).

In 2010, Lindegaard was named Goalkeeper of the Year in both Norway and Denmark.

Since early November 2010, he was reported to have become a target for English club Manchester United.

On 23 November 2010, it was reported that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson expected to complete the signing of the player in the "next two or three weeks".

On 27 November 2010, Lindegaard joined Manchester United on a three-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £3.5 million.

He trained with the first team throughout December, but he was unable to play for his new club until the transfer window re-opened on 1 January 2011.

Lindegaard was officially registered with the Premier League on 6 January, and assigned the number 34 jersey.

On 29 January, Lindegaard made his Manchester United debut in a 2–1 victory against Southampton in the FA Cup Fourth round.

He made his Old Trafford home debut on 19 February in another FA Cup match, this time against the Conference National side Crawley Town, in which United won 1–0.

In March, he underwent knee surgery that would keep him out of action for five weeks.

On 16 May, Lindegaard played in the Manchester Senior Cup final for the Manchester United Reserves against Bolton Wanderers Reserves, which United went on to win 3–1.

On 14 September 2011, Lindegaard made his first UEFA Champions League start for United against Portuguese side Benfica.

The match ended in a 1–1 draw with Lindegaard winning critical acclaim for his performance.

Sir Alex Ferguson, however, still decided to continue with first-choice keeper David de Gea for the next match in the Premier League against Chelsea.

Asked about challenging for the first-team spot, Lindegaard said, "What answer do you expect to that question? I've said a thousand times before I'm not here to pick my nose."

On 18 October, Lindegaard was handed his second Champions League start for United.

He played against Oțelul Galați, with the match ending in a 2–0 win for United, earning them their first Champions League group stage victory.

On 1 October 2011, Lindegaard made his Premier League debut for United against Norwich City in a 2–0 win at Old Trafford.

He continued his run of clean sheets in his next four appearances in the Premier League, which included a 1–0 home win against Sunderland on 5 November, a 1–0 away win against Aston Villa on 3 December, a 5–0 away win at Fulham on 21 December and a 5–0 home win against Wigan Athletic in United's Boxing day fixture.

His run of clean sheets in the league finally ended on 4 January away to Newcastle United when he was beaten three times in a game that United lost 3–0.

A week later, on 8 January 2012, Lindegaard played his biggest game for Manchester United, a 3–2 win against Manchester City in the FA Cup.

He was chosen again for the starting line-up the following week when United beat Bolton Wanderers 3–0.

On 30 January 2012, he damaged his ankle ligaments in training, forcing him to miss the game against Stoke City the next day, along with the unwell first-choice David de Gea, meaning youngster Ben Amos played goal.

Later in the week, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed Lindegaard would miss the next four to five weeks and would not be expected back until the home game with West Bromwich Albion.

On 3 August 2012, Lindegaard signed a new four-year contract with United, keeping him at the club until June 2016.

He also took the number 13 jersey made vacant by the departure of Park Ji-sung, who had left the club for Queens Park Rangers.

Since the match against Norwich on 17 November 2012, first-choice goalkeeper David de Gea was sidelined with wisdom teeth problems.

He moved to West Bromwich Albion in 2015, but was unable to break into the team and joined Preston North End in January 2016, initially on loan.

He joined Burnley in September 2017.