Little Estonia is not the main importer of football stars in the strongest European championships, but quite interesting players grow here from time to time. The main legend is goalkeeper Mart Poom, who has played in the English Premier League for fifteen years. However, now he has a worthy competitor in the face of defender Ragnar Klavan, who recently became a player of Liverpool. Before his departure in England, he managed to celebrate his successful experience in playing in the championships of Holland and Germany.
Portrait of Ragnar Klavan
At first glance, a native of the Baltic republic is a typical example of a standard, heavyweight defense player, not too sophisticated in technical and tactical terms. The tall, athletic footballer Ragnar Klavan conscientiously engages in martial arts, takes away balls from his opponents, that is, he performs his direct duties of defending his own goal.
However, the Estonian is not as simple as it seems. His father, Dzintar Klavan, also played soccer and taught his son great to control the ball, perfecting his technique and the art of passing. Few people today know that Ragwan began his football career with an almost pure playmaker, and his idol was the unrivaled Zinedine Zidane.
Only subsequently, the coaches pushed the player into the defense zone, where he could better use his physical characteristics.
In general, one of the leaders of the Estonian football team is not a typical “wooden” defender, but a fully qualified modern defender who owns the pass game and is able to competently launch an attack from his half of the field. The level of transmission efficiency is 85%, which is not bad for a native of Northern Europe.
Start
Ragnar Klavan was born in 1985 in the Estonian city of Viljandi. He began to play football from the age of eight, enrolling in the Tulevika school. He grew up very quickly in a healthy powerful guy and at the age of fifteen he began to play for the professional team “Elva”, playing in the second Estonian division. As part of the club, Ragnar spent 20 matches, scoring 5 goals.
A year later, the coaches of Tulevik returned the promising footballer to their ranks, offering him to retrain from a midfielder to a player in the center of defense. In this position, Ragnar Klavan found himself and for several years became one of the strongest defenders of the country. Already in 2003, he became a player of Flora, the flagship of local football, having won the Estonian champion title.
In the 2004/2005 season he was on loan at the Norwegian Volereng, but failed to gain a foothold in the main team. Nevertheless, already in 2004, quite serious clubs showed interest in the football player, including Bolton, Ajax, and PSV.
European voyage
In 2005, Ragnar Klavan decided to try his hand at Europe and moved to Heracles, who had recently returned to the Premier League of Dutch football. Reliable and cold-blooded Estonian, despite his youth, acted in every match with the confidence of an experienced veteran and over the years became one of the key players.
Fulfilling his immediate responsibilities for defending the goal, he also came into the penalty area when corner kicks were scored, thus scoring 4 goals in 95 games for the club.
In 2009, Ragnar Klavan went on promotion, becoming a football player of one of the leading clubs in the Netherlands - AZ-67. Here he also acted highly reliable and helped the team win the national championship.
Augsburg and Liverpool
In 2012, a native of Viljandi set off to conquer the Bundesliga, becoming the first player in the Estonian football team to compete in the elite German division. Augsburg was not one of the strongest German clubs, but Ragnar was pleased with the very fact of being in Germany.
For several years, the Estonian football player has earned a reputation as a highly reliable and stable defense player. He practically didn’t get injured, he played neatly and practically did not receive warnings for a rough game, which is rather unusual for the central defender. Speaking for Augsburg from 2012 to 2015, Ragnar Klavan only missed games three times because of the accumulated yellow cards. And all in all, during his long career, a cold-blooded Estonian only received a red card only once.
In 2016, Ragnar became a player in the English Liverpool. The German coach of the club, Jürgen Klopp, was well acquainted with the Estonian’s experience in the Bundesliga and invited him to replace the central defender, who was freed up after Martin Skrtel left.