Manchester United´s Classy Defender

Ronny Johnsen

Born in Sandef­jord, Ronny Johnsen was brought to Manchester United from Besiktas for £1.2 mil­lion at the start of the 1996–97 sea­son. After mak­ing his league debut for Manchester United as a sub­sti­tute in a 3–0 vic­tory over Wimble­don at Sel­hurst Park in August 1996, the classy defender went on to make well over 100 appear­ances for the club and won four Premier League titles, one FA Cup and the UEFA Cham­pi­ons League in the process.

The Manchester United sup­port­ers took Ronny Johnsen to their hearts not only for his fight­ing spirit, but also for his exquis­ite passing. A true gen­tle­man both on and off the pitch, he was a soph­ist­ic­ated player who could read the game well and rarely lost out to an oppon­ent. The Nor­way inter­na­tional remained at Manchester United until the end of the 2001-02 cam­paign when he was given a free trans­fer by Sir Alex Fer­guson. Blessed with flair and fierce determ­in­a­tion, Ronny Johnsen was a reg­u­lar mem­ber of the Nor­way team that reached the 1998 World Cup in France and he made 61 appear­ances for his nat­ive coun­try before he finally announced his retire­ment from the game in 2008.

Manchester United Books