Here's an interesting one. Club lists him as a Danish-American '92 defender born in Los Angeles who has been with them since 2007. http://lyngby-boldklub.dk/Spillerprofiler/A-trup/Ryan_Johnson_Laursen/
Ryan Johnson Laursen, who is now a Danish U21 international, is on his way to Danish Superliga side Esbjerg fB in the last day of the transfer window .... http://www.bold.dk/nyt/EfB-traener-paa-rov-i-sin-gamle-klub Esbjerg won promotion to the Superliga two years ago with a highly talented team that a bit surprisingly finished 4 in the Superliga and also won the Danish Cup final, which earned them a place in the Europa League play-offs this season, where they managed to eliminate French Saint-Étienne by beating them both home and away : Because they managed to the progress to the EL group stage, they found the need to sign at least 3 more reinforcements before the transfer window is closed... the first being the the Norwegian international Mohammed Fellah while the second is going to be young Ryan Laursen, because the former Lyngby and present Esbjerg coach knows him well... In this transfer window Esbjerg have sold the young striker Martin Braithwaite to Toulouse FC, while also their young star right back Peter Ankersen has been close to a move to France, but in the end decided to stay a bit longer when they qualified for the Europa League... but he is the one Ryan Laursen is suppose to replace when Ankersen probably is to be their next big sale in the winter break.... In any case, they were in need of more depth if they are going to be a success in Europe as well as in the Superliga. Most of the better Scandinavian sides usually rely on a few older former big "name" internationals, but when you look at the Esbjerg squad, it is mainly a team of young rising stars, of which some still are playing for the Danish U21 NT or have recently earned their debut for the Danish or Norwegian NT and easily could have been on their way to bigger leagues this summer... and the fact that we are talking about a fairly young but still very defensively solid looking team on the rise, makes me believe that they could progress from their Europa League group... they are also among the few teams that could win the Danish Championship this season. .
http://www.dbu.dk/landshold/Landsholdsdatabasen/LBasePlayerInfo.aspx?playerid=6848 http://www.lyngby-boldklub.dk/?id=236&c=Spillertruppen&a=1
The Lyngby director is now saying that they are negotiating with more than one club, though he admit that Esbjerg is one of them, but that a sale this late in the transfer window is more complicated, because they also need to sign reinforcements themselves. .
Esbjerg han now officially signed a 4-year contract with Danish/American Ryan Laursen : - "Ryan is an attacking minded, fast right back with great physical endurance and strength in physical duels. He has many of the qualities we want in our full back positions, as we rely much on fast-breaks and speed on the flank postions," said coach Niels Frederiksen in a statement. - "He is young and will continue to develop his passing skills. Ryan is a player for the future, but I believe that he is ready for the Superliga".. http://www.bold.dk/nyt/Officielt-Esbjerg-henter-Lyngby-back Esbjerg have btw also just signed the Norwegian U21 international winger/striker, Mushaga Bakenga on a 1-year loan from Club Brugge, with an option to buy. .
Well... first of all he need Peter Ankersen (who scored two excellent goals against Saint-Étienne in the EL highlights I posted above) to move abroad... Esbjerg refused a few offers in this transfer window, the last one being a $1.8 million offer by FC København... but Ankersen most surely will be sold in the winter break, which is also why they have picked up Ryan to take his place. .
Got two full 90s in Europa League, first at Red Bull Salzburg in a 3:0 loss on 12/12/13, then a draw at Fiorentina on 2/27/14 that followed a 0:2 loss in the home leg: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/ac-fiorentina-esbjerg-fb/index/spielbericht_2385106.html Not bad for a 21yo, though.
Played a full 90 in a Europa League Qualifier as Ejsberg got a result (1:1) away vs. Kairat Almaty of Boratstan: http://www.soccerfame.com/match/443897/kairat-almaty/esbjerg 22yo ... Danish youth teams all the way up ... All the more reason for Klinsi to send him a fruit basket.
He went the distance in a 1-0 home loss to Randers today to start the 2014/2015 Superliga. The home leg against Kirat Almaty in the Europa League is on Wednesday. During the 2013/2014 season he made 7 starts for Esbjerg in Superliga play picking up 3 yellow cards. He also made 2 starts in the Europa League and 2 starts in the Danish Cup. Before his transfer he made 5 starts in the 2nd tier with Lyngby and 1 start in the cup.
Full 90 in a shutout (0-0) at Ruch Chorzow of Poland to open the 3rd round of Europa League qualifying on 7/31. Also put in another full 90 in the 2nd round in league play.
Esbjerg drew the second leg 2-2 at home today and thus were eliminated on away goals. Laursen came on in the 72nd minute and picked up a yellow card in the 84th minute. Esbjerg scored in the 85th minute, but then gave up the deciding goal in the 5th minute of stoppage time. He went the distance in a 3-2 road loss to FC Nordsjælland in the league on Sunday. Highlights from his three league games: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
Damned if I could pick him out. I'll presume he was never on screen because his mark was always on lockdown and didn't see any of the ball. (The scoreline tentatively supports that inference.)
And so the dance begins anew.... I guess there shouldn't be anything shocking in the fact that (a) US Soccer reached out to him and (b) he won't publicly rule out the option.