ACCLAIMED Danish international goalkeeper who arrived at the Britannia Stadium on a free transfer in July 2008.

Sorensen was snapped up on his release from Aston Villa to act as competition for Steve Simonsen.

The former Sunderland stopper began his career in his native Denmark where he turned out for Odense, serving as understudy to the club’s legendary goalkeeper Lars Hogh.

With first team chances limited, Sorensen was loaned out to Vejle where he played six times.

He returned to Odense only to be loaned out again, this time to Danish 1st Division side, Svendborg, where he went on to play an entire season.

His performances in Denmark caught the eye of Peter Reid, then in charge of Sunderland.

Reid paid £510,000 to take the young Danish stopper to the North East, where his performances helped the Black Cats win promotion to the Premier League.

He remained the club’s number one choice stopper throughout their four-season spell in the top flight.

He became a massive hit with supporters in 2001, when he saved a penalty kick from Alan Shearer in the dying moments of a derby fixture against arch rivals Newcastle United.

He was sold to Aston Villa for £2.25 million in 2003, after the Black Cats had plummeted back to the Championship with mounting financial woes.

It was rumored that Villa had seen off competition from Manchester United and Arsenal for his signature.

Signed by David O’Leary, Sorensen established himself as Villa’s first choice goalkeeper.

However in the 2007/08 season under Martin O’Neill, Sorensen fell out of favour and didn’t make a single appearance after loanee Scott Carson was handed the number one jersey.

The decision to leave the Danish international out in the cold divided Villa supporters.

Before signing for Stoke, Sorensen was linked with Ipswich Town, Galatasaray and Middlesbrough.

On the international front, Sorensen made his debut for Denmark in November 1999, coming on to replace an injured Peter Schmeichel. He was the country’s number two at Euro 2000, when Peter Schmeichel was at the end of his career.

For the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign in 2001, he took over the job as goalkeeper and helped Denmark qualify.

Sorensen was then instrumental, as Denmark won their first round group ahead of Senegal, Uruguay and defending World Cup champions France to book a second round clash against England.

However, in the pouring rain at Niigata, Sorensen conceded three goals,
one of them an embarrassing blunder, as he bundled the ball into his own goal from a Rio Ferdinand header in the fifth minute. England went on to win the match 3–0.

His experience at international and domestic level will proved invaluable as Stoke survived their first season in the Premier League.

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