Former Barcelona star Michael Laudrup recently took over at Qatari outfit Lekhwiya after being sacked from his role at Swansea last season.
Laudrup has had mixed experiences as a manager even though he had one of the brilliant playing careers for any player to have come out of Denmark. Laudrup went on to represent the likes of Barcelona and won numerous titles including the la Liga. The Danish manager was recently named as one of the 125Greatest Living Footballers by former Brazil star Pele. Laudrup was widely expected to take over at a major European club, but he has decided to get a spell out of the limelight by joiningLekhwiya.
He has been speaking recently about the quality of football in the region, while he also had to say a few things about the upcoming Fifa World Cup 2022 in this region. There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the hosting of this World Cup due to concerns about corruption and heat. Laudrup, though, expects the nation to host the World Cup in a successful manner just as they have done in several other sporting events. He agrees that the football style is completely different to the one he has been used to in Spain and England.
“I think it’s a different kind of football, of course, from that I am used to from Spain, from the English Premier League. I think it’s a country that wants to improve in football and all the things they are doing. I see a country where, football wise, they are trying to improve the way they do things. I think with the Aspire programme and with the young players coming up, they are trying to build for the future which is looking towards 2022. There are different parts to it. First obviously is the national team they want to build, developing young players,” said Laudrup.