Villa skipper Martin Laursen has hung up his boots after admitting defeat in his long-running fight with knee injuries.

The 31-year-old called a press conference this morning at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath headquarters, where he announced that he has been forced into retirement.

Laursen has fought back from a succession of knee injuries but has decided to finally call time on an illustrious 14-year career, after being told this latest problem would require further surgery without any guarantees of success.

The lion-hearted centre-back, who made 53 appearances for Denmark, experienced pain in his knee 24 hours after Villa’s December victory at West Ham.

He played just once more, making his 91st and final appearance in the 2-1 win over Albion on January 10.

Another reaction in that game forced a further operation, expected to sideline him for eight weeks. But he twice suffered setbacks on the recovery trail, leaving him with a choice between more surgery or retirement.

Laursen said: “This time, it would have been even harder to recover than before. It would take a minimum of one year to recover and I had just one year left on my contract, so I decided to stop now.

“I am pleased with what I achieved during my career. I am proud of the matches I’ve played and I’m proud of what I did for Aston Villa.

“My only regret is that I did not come to England sooner. This is where I have been happiest.”

The defender joined Villa for £3million in May 2004 but his knee problems soon resurfaced, spending six months of his first season on the sidelines and suffering a recurrence which ended the next campaign on its opening day.

He then underwent a career-saving operation by Dr Richard Steadman but an injury to his other knee curtailed his 200/-07 season.

But he put his problems behind him to be a league ever-present last term.