Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 10y

Nicklas Bendtner urged to take chance

Nicklas Bendtner has to take his opportunity at Wolfsburg, Denmark coach Morten Olsen has told kicker.

Bendtner, 26, was released from his contract at Arsenal earlier this summer, and on Friday the Dane joined Wolfsburg on a free transfer.

The attacker put pen to paper on a performance-based three-year-deal, with a clause allowing Wolfsburg to terminate the contract without any redundancy payment should he be involved in any off the pitch scandals, according to kicker.

Olsen told kicker that Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs, the coach's teammate at Cologne during the 1986-87 season, got in touch with him before the transfer.

"Nicklas deserves another chance. And Wolfsburg have offered him a huge chance," Olsen said. "I hope he takes his chance. Bendtner has great potential, but has not accessed it in the last years. In the European Championship year 2012 he was one of the best attackers in Europe.

"He had some injury setbacks, and also made a few mistakes off the pitch. He knows that best. That's why he didn't play regularly, and lost his form."

However, Olsen added that Bendtner, who has scored 24 goals in 59 appearances for his country, has sometimes been treated unfairly by the public.

"He might have not acted according to the rules at times. But some of it was exaggerated. He soon had this label," Olsen said.

"He has now reached the best age for a footballer, and has six or seven years left to play at the highest level. If he does not learn from his mistakes now, he will never do it. Should it come like this, he'll also run into problems with me."

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