Club Career
As a schoolboy, Poulsen played alongside Anders Egholm and Nicolai Høgh in the Danish school tournament for Næsbjerg. He played youth football with Esbjerg fB, and got his senior debut under coach Viggo Jensen in September 2001. In the team of new coach Ove Pedersen, Poulsen established himself in the starting line-up. Having played 21 of 33 games in the Danish Superliga 2002-03 season while missing some games due to injury, Poulsen played all games of the Danish Superliga 2003-04 season, scoring seven goals as Esbjerg finished in third place. He played a total 107 games and scored 19 goals in the Superliga, before leaving the club.
In January 2006, Poulsen was sold to Dutch team SC Heerenveen, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the club. At Heerenveen, he played alongside fellow Danes Hjalte Bo Nørregaard, Bo Storm, Timmi Johansen, and Ken Ilsø. He suffered an injury in late February 2006, but returned to play seven games in his first half year with the team. By fall 2006 he was backup to right back Gianni Zuiverloon, and stated he did not like coach Gertjan Verbeek's motivational skills. He was used as right midfielder in the spring 2007, but could not establish himself in the starting line-up, and played most of his Heerenveen games as a substitute. He established himself in the team in early 2008, but under new coach Trond Sollied his run in the starting line-up came to an end. As Sollied would not include him in more games, Poulsen decided to leave the club.
He moved back to Denmark in August 2008, signing a four-year contract with AGF Aarhus. He rejoined his former coach Ove Pedersen, and looked to restart his career by receiving more regular playing time. He debuted for AGF in August, and established himself as a right-sided midfielder in the starting line-up. He scored his first goal against AaB, which was named September 2008 goal of the month in a TV 2 Sport poll. He was included in the team of the fall season by both TV 2 Sport and TV 3. AGF finished the Danish Superliga 2008-09 season in sixth place. He started the Danish Superliga 2009-10 season well, playing all 18 games, and was named 2009 Danish Superliga Player of the Year. A transfer offer from Serie A side Lazio was accepted by AGF in January 2010, but Poulsen rejected the offer in order not to put his 2010 FIFA World Cup participation in jeopardy. He suffered an ankle injury in February 2010, and only played six games in the spring season, as AGF were relegated to the Danish 1st Division.
Following the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, English Premier League club, Wigan Athletic, as well as German Bundesliga club, 1. FC Köln, reportedly was interested in Poulsens services. However, on 17 August 2010 it was announced that Poulsen joined the Danish Superliga side FC Midtjylland.
Read more about this topic: Jakob Poulsen
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