Martin Laursen - the news you dreaded

"I'm not talking top of the range but he fitted in with our budget," said the Villa manager of the time after a signing a centre-back for £3 milion five years back.

The manager? David O'Leary of course. The player? Martin Laursen.

O'Leary whittered something about having lost Ronny Johnsen - who failed to even turn up for the last match of the season after learning on the eve of the game he would not be getting a new contract - and Dion Dublin, similarly having learnt via the media that he would not be kept on - and Alpay.

Moan, moan, moan....

Martin Laursen was by no means an unknown quantity when he arrived.

12 months earlier he had turned down Wolves. Unthinkable, I know.

Graham Taylor had scouted him for Villa before the 2002 World Cup but was hamstrung by the club's financial commitments to Alpay and Bosko Balaban, both of whom he had wanted to pay off but was not given the authority that was soon afforded David O'Leary.

Taylor signed Ronny Johnsen on a free transfer instead and he certainly gave good value.

Laursen's debut gave no hint of the impact he would make in years to come, a 2-1 friendly defeat at Walsall.

"I don't want to be horrible but I thought Laursen looked a bit shaky," said Walsall boss Paul Merson at the time.

Well, Laursen's career came to an official end today at the age of just 31.

Five years and 89 starts at Villa. A pitiful return I know, but Villa folk will hold him in high esteem for years and years to come.

Not just because of his robust, brave approach to the game but also his quiet, dignified, graceful leadership off the pitch.

Do 89 starts in five years at the £3 million transfer fee plus around £1.5million a season, including a full year out of the game spent in Bologna recuperating and a new contract in January 2008 represent value for money?

Well, foer four of those seasons the answer would be probably not. But the 38 league games that he played last season will long live in the memory.

Mellberg, Southgate, Ehiogu - all fine central defenders indeed over the past 15 years.

Many folk though see Laursen right up there with the best of the lot, Paul McGrath.

The warning signs were blaring in March 2005.

"I've a serious cartilage problem," Laursen told the Danish media. "It makes me think of the future."

He admitted that his joints were rubbing together and that he could not walk properly down a flight of stairs.

O'Leary and Doug Ellis would privately aportion blame on each other that a more detailed medical was not carried out before the player jetted off to the Euro 2004 finals where he was a major star.

"He is as brave as a lion, said Martin O'Neill after the League Cup defeat at Chelsea when injury, medial ligaments this time, had struck again.

Then after a goalless draw at Newcastle in August 2007 O'Neill was repeating the metaphor.

"He is a very brave boy when you think of the problems he has been through with his knee it is amazing he is even able to play Premier League football. He is vital to us," gushed the manager.

Finally, another injury, at West Ham in December. One more appearance later, against Albion the following month, and another knee operation was necessary.

After that he broke down on a training camp in Dubai in March and faced 12 further months on the sidelines and yet another operation.

So finally today he has admitted his battle is lost.

Both as a player and person of real substance, Laursen will be sadly missed.

The future for Villa suddenly does not look so bright.