PER Frandsen believes life without the Laudrups will take its toll on Denmark's international prospects.

The Wanderers midfield ace rubbed shoulders on the World Cup stage with Michael and Brian - the legendary international brothers - and wishes they were still around.

But time caught up with Michael, the 35-year-old who announced before France '98 that he was hanging up his international boots, while apathy apparently got the better of Brian who dropped his retirement bombshell during the tournament - at the tender age of 29.

"We've lost two world class international players and of course we miss them," Frandsen says. "Any country would.

"We have had to change our style of play. Losing Michael and Brian means we have to play more as a team rather than rely on individual talent like we have done for so many years.

"And we are having to bring other, younger players through, which will take time, of course."

Claus Jensen has already been tipped as a player from the Under 21 ranks who could take over the Laudrup role - as a provider rather than a taker of chances. National coach Bo Johansson has said as much although he believes Jensen, considered the most technically-gifted of all the young Danes, will first need to toughen up.

Frandsen, whose inclusion in the Denmark squad for the February 10 friendly in Croatia should be confimed on Tuesday, sees no reason why his Bolton sidekick cannot eventually graduate to the senior ranks. But, like the rest of Denmark, he knows Brian Laudrup will be a hard act for anyone to follow.

Little wonder the player who graced Brondby, Bayern Munich, Fiorentina, Milan, Rangers and Chelsea before his recent shock decision to quit London for FC Copenhagen, has been under pressure to reconsider his decision to leave the international arena.

While his elder brother spends part of his footballing fortune on a dream home in the Vedbaek suburb of the nation's capital, contemplating life after football, Brian returned to training with Copenhagen this week in readiness for their sell-out clash with his old club, Brondby, when the season resumes on March 14 after the winter break.

"Everyone believes Brian should still be playing for Denmark," Frandsen reckons. "Michael's retirement was expected because he said before the World Cup that he was going to finish. But Brian's was a big shock to us all. We expected him to carry on for quite some time.

"I didn't know about it until the World Cup when my wife Dorte, asked me if it was right that Brian was to finish as an international. She had been speaking to Brian's wife.

"There has been a lot of talk about it back home with people saying he should think again. But I don't think he will. When he makes up his mind, he is a person who sticks to it. He showed that when he said he was leaving Chelsea and going back to Denmark."

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