Little Estonia is not the most importantimporter of football stars in the strongest European championships, but from time to time there are growing quite interesting players. The main legend is goalkeeper Mart Pom, who played for fifteen years in the English Premier League. However, now he has a worthy competitor in the face of defender Ragnar Klavan, who recently became a player of Liverpool. Prior to his departure in England, he managed to celebrate the successful experience of performances in the championships of Holland, Germany.
At first glance, a native of the BalticThe republic is a typical example of a standard, heavyweight defense player, not too sophisticated in technical and tactical terms. A tall, athletic football player, Ragnar Klavan, conscientiously enters single combats, selects balls from opponents, that is, performs his direct duties to defend his own goal.
However, the Estonian is not as simple as it seems.His father, Dzintar Klavan, also played football and taught his son to dispose of the ball, perfecting his technique and the art of passing. Few people know today that Ragwan started his football career almost as a pure playmaker, and his idol was the unsurpassed Zinedine Zidane.
In general, one of the leaders of the Estonian national teamfootball is not a typical "wooden" defender, but a fully qualified modern defender who owns a game in pass and is able to competently start an attack from his half of the field. The level of efficiency of the programs is 85%, which is quite good for a native of Northern Europe.
Ragnar Klawan was born in 1985 in Estonianthe city of Viljandi. He started playing soccer from the age of eight, enrolled in the Tulevik school. He very quickly grew into a healthy powerful guy and already at the age of fifteen years began to play for the professional team "Elva", serving in the second Estonian division. In the club, Ragnar played 20 matches, scoring 5 goals.
A year later the trainers of "Tulevik" returnedpromising player in his ranks, offering him to retrain from a midfielder to a player in the center of defense. At this position, Ragnar Clavan found himself and within a few 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 title of champion of Estonia in its composition.
In the 2004/2005 season,he was on loan in the Norwegian "Vålereng", but failed to gain a foothold in the first team. Nevertheless, already in 2004 the interest to the football was shown by quite serious clubs, among which were Bolton, Ajax, PSV.
In 2005, Ragnar Klawan decided to try his ownstrength in Europe and moved to "Heracles", recently returned to the Major 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 several years became one of the key players.
Fulfilling his immediate duties in defense of the goal, he also came to the penalty area for a corner kick, scoring 4 goals in 95 games for the club.
In 2009, Ragnar Clavan went on promotion, becoming a player of one of the leading clubs in the Netherlands - AZ-67. Here, he also acted extremely reliably and helped the team win the national championship.
В 2012 году уроженец Вильянди отправился покорять Bundesliga, becoming the first player of the Estonian national football team, speaking in the elite German division. "Augsburg" was not one of the strongest German clubs, but Ragnar was pleased with the fact of his stay in Germany.
For several years the Estonian football player has earneda reputation as an ultra-reliable and stable defense player. He practically did not get injured, he played accurately and practically did not receive any warnings for a rough game, which is quite unusual for the central defender. Speaking for the "Augsburg" from 2012 to 2015, Ragnar Klavan only three times skipped the game because of the accumulated yellow cards. And just for his long career, the cold-blooded Estonian only once received a red card.
In 2016, Ragnar became an English playerLiverpool. The German mentor of the club Jurgen Klopp was well acquainted with the possibilities of the Estonian in the experience of working in the Bundesliga and invited him to the place of the central defender, freed after the departure of Martin Skrtel.
