Martin Laursen is an absolute colossus at the heart of the Aston Villa defence. The Danish centre half is a throw back to when desire was the more important than step overs.
Apparently willing to risk life and limb, he will contest every single ball whether it's in his own penalty area or the opposition's, endangering himself and anyone else who dare step in his way.
The Villa captain's appetite and bravery is matched by few others. It is impossible to overhype just what a great player and person Laursen is.
Arguably and probably the player who excels more than any other at the club in their given position, he can show the strikers a thing or two about scoring goals and he is the outstanding candidate to be Villa's best player every time he plays.
The question that will inevitably follow is why does Laursen come in at number three rather than number one?
Well, as a defender Laursen's job is to stop the other team scoring, whereas the players who have finished above him contribute with great regularity to ensuring Villa come away from games as winners. Winning in this game is the be all and end all.
A thankless task for the Danish defender maybe but certainly not one that goes unnoticed by fans are neutrals alike, Laursen is one of the most respected and admired players around and is incredibly popular with the Villa Park faithful.
When, in the summer of 2004 David O'Leary announced that Villa had signed a player from AC Milan, little was known of the player but inevitably much was expected.
Phoenix
A natural understanding with fellow Scandinavian Olof Mellberg was immediately evident and Laursen's ability to rise like a phoenix to meet virtually every header was winning him a lot of supporters.
Then a recurrence of a knee injury dating back to his early career with Italian side Verona struck and his season petered out as nothing more than what might have been, He was back raring to go for the 2005/06 season only for the injury to cruelly strike again.
The more cynical of Villa supporters began to wonder if this was the reason Milan were willing to let him go for a mere £3.5m. It was clear that Laursen's career was at a cross roads and he went to see renowned knee specialist Dr. Richard Steadman.
When Martin O'Neill came to town, he was only too aware of Laursen's injury problems and has since remarked that when he first saw Laursen in training he was even walking with a limp. O'Neill understandably feared the worst.
Laursen never did though, displaying the courage each and every Saturday to fight back on three separate occasions from savage knee injuries. Rarely, if ever, has he been at fault for a goal since then.
Susceptible to tricky attackers, Laursen prefers to do his defending around Villa's box and defend he does. Impervious to fear, seemingly unbeatable in the air, unflinchingly honest and ferocious in the tackle, Laursen is yet an unquestionably fair player and seldom booked.
The above listed characteristics are often also very prevalent from attacking situations, causing mass panic whenever he ventures into an oppositions penalty area. The team's potency from dead ball situations can largely be attributed to the captain.
Scoring six times last season and four times already this, he is in fact one of the teams biggest goals threats. Laursen's method is simple, the ball is played in and he attacks it like freight train. Stand in his way if you dare.
The best Aston Villa defender since Paul McGrath is an honour regularly bestowed upon the big number five by the Claret and Blue army and if that doesn't tell you all you need to know about Laursen nothing will.
An inspirational figure, the likes of whom don't come around very often, Laursen's could quite easily lead this team to glory in the coming years.