Darren Bent Biography

Darren Bent is an attacker for England and Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.  He arrived at Spurs with a prolific goalscoring record at lesser clubs, which fully justified the £16m price-tag, but has struggled to win a place in the first-team – even with the departure of Keane and Berbatov.  Bent’s game is based around his pace, with his trademark goal coming from a ball over the top of the defenders for Darren to run on to.

Darren Bent was born on 6th February 1984 in London, England.  His family moved to East Anglia when he was still a child, and he was scouted by local side Ipswich to play in their youth and academy sides at the age of 13.  By the age of 17 he had become a regular in the reserve side, helped the team to the Semis of the FA Youth Cup, and signed his first professional contract.

Darren made his debut for the first-team in November 2001, aged just 17, in the UEFA Cup.  He remained a fringe player, coming on to inject pace to the front line.  He became a first-team player the season after, and had a prolific career at the club – finishing as their top scorer in his final two seasons at the club, and performing well enough to earn a call-up to the England U-21s.

His form and potential prompted Charlton to make a bid of £3m, and he took his goals across with his to the Valley.  Two impressive seasons on a personal level, finishing as top scorer in both, culminated in relegation for Charlton, with his 13 league goals proving to be insufficient to keep the club in the Premier League.

Following the relegation, Bent was one of the hottest properties in the summer of 2007, and was subject to many big-money bids by clubs such as West Ham United, before agreeing personal terms at Tottenham Hotspur, who paid £16.5m to take him to White Hart Lane.

Whilst he started brightly, scoring many goals in the pre-season, he struggled to break the established combination of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov in the Spurs attack.

With both of those departing at the start of the season, Bent was given a chance to establish himself in the first-team, and quickly became the team’s top goal scorer.  Robbie Keane’s return in January 2009 saw him drop down the pecking order, but he gives something else to the team than Pavlyuchenko and Keane – his pace and clinical finishing are missed.

Darren Bent made his international debut on 1st March 2006, though he had first been called up into the squad some months earlier.  He performed admirably against Uruguay, and only narrowly missed out on a place in the England World Cup Squad, with the last striker spot being bizarrely given to Theo Walcott.

Bent has been called up by boss Fabio Capello in the World Cup 2010 campaign, and is hopeful of being on the plane to South Africa should they qualify.

Joleon Lescott Biography

Joleon Lescott is a defender for England and Everton in the English Premier League.  Lescott can play in the centre of defence, using his experience and ability to block opposition’s attacks, but favours playing as the team’s left-back, allowing him to burst forwards and get into the box more often.  Lescott has been used at both centre and left-back by England boss Fabio Capello, but faces strong competition for both spots in the first-team.

Lescott was born on 16th August 1982 in Birmingham, England.  He spent his childhood days playing football with older brother Aaron (who is also a professional footballer), and watching Match of the Day.  He was knocked over in a car accident when he was still just a boy, but thankfully made a full recovery, though some scars are still visible today.  He was scouted by local club Wolverhampton Wanderers as a thirteen year old, and whilst it took him some time to adjust to the pressures of training, he signed for the club at the earliest possible opportunity – on his 17th birthday.

Lescott was thrown in at the deep end at Wolves, with Joleon making his debut and then cementing his place in the first team when he was just 19 years old.  He was voted Supporter’s Player of the Year, having won the fans over with his no-nonsense tackling and reliability at the heart of the defence.

After just 3 seasons in the Championship, Lescott was one of the key men when Wolves won the Playoff Final, and promotion to the Premiership.  Sadly, his dreams of playing against the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United weren’t to come true just yet – with a knee injury costing him a whole season.  The side badly missed him, and they were relegated back to the Championship.

Lescott played for another two seasons, helping Wolves reach the playoffs but they never won promotion again.  Despite being very happy at the club, he moved on when the chance to play at the highest level came up.

Joleon Lescott joined David Moyes’ Everton in August 2006, for a fee that could rise to £5m.  He was played at left-back by the fiery Scottish manager, and excelled.  He was reliable at the back, great at getting challenges in when they need to be mad, and was a real favourite of the fans, who saw Lescott as one of themselves on the pitch – never stopping running, and pitching in with some important goals along the way.

He was voted the Player’s Player of the Year in his first season, and also won his first call-up to the England national side.  He has been a fixture in the Everton first-team since, with his versatility allowing coach Moyes to play him at left-back or centre-back.  His aerial prowess deserves a mention – he has a habit of scoring important headed goals from last-ditch corners and free-kicks.

Joleon Lescott was first called up to the England side by Steve McLaren, but has continued to be a regular squad player since Capello took over.  He made his debut in October 2007, against Estonia, and is a more-than-adequate reserve defender should either of the established centre-backs Rio Ferdinand or John Terry be unavailable.

Kolo Toure Biography

Kolo Toure plays as a defender for the Ivory Coast national side and for Arsenal in the English Premier League.  His power, pace and vision have long made him a difficult defender to play against.  He reads the game well and saves the team’s blushes on a number of occasions.  He was originally taken to Arsenal as an Attacking Midfielder, but Arsene Wenger spotted that Toure had the natural ability and qualities to be a superb centre-back.  He has played in the Ivory Coast first-team since he was 19, and continues to show great leadership on the pitch and off it.

Kolo Toure was born on 19th March 1981 in Bouake, Ivory Coast.  He was one of many children in the family, and regularly enjoyed playing football in the dusty streets with his brothers, and all that practice paid off – younger brothers Yaya Toure and Ibrahim both play professionally too.  He signed up to an academy associated with ASEC, which had close links with Arsenal.

Kolo Toure flourished in the academy.  He could have chosen to head to Belgium (ASEC had links with Beveren that later took Emanuel Eboue to Belgium) but decided instead to stay in the Ivory Coast.  He was first-choice for both ASEC and the Ivory Coast national side, and was keen only to move to a big club.

Toure was taken on trial by Arsenal in January 2002, and signed for the north London club a month later, once Arsene Wenger had been satisfied by Toure’s amazing work-rate and attitude.

Kolo made his debut for Arsenal at the start of the following season, having had a chance to adapt to the pace of the Premier League.  He started off as an attacking midfielder, and slowly became Arsenal’s utility man, playing himself into the side in any midfield or defensive positions, but making no position his own as Arsenal romped to the Premier League title.

The following season, Toure was handed the centre-back role alongside Sol Campbell, and performed admirably as Arsenal became the first team to manage a whole season unbeaten, and earned the ‘invincibles’ tag.

Toure’s power and technical ability helped Arsenal to win the 2005 FA Cup, and make it to the 2006 Champions League Final.  Toure was the stand-in captain once Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira had left the club, and he proved himself as a great leader.

Kolo Toure has played international football since his first call-up in 2000 as a leggy 19 year old.  He helped the Ivory Coast to their runners up spot in the African Cup of Nations, playing every game, and was also ever-present in the ill-fated World Cup 2006 campaign.  His positional sense and ability make him one of Ivory Coast’s key performers.

Patrice Evra Biography

Patrice Evra is a defender for France and Manchester United in the English Premier League.  Though he used to play as a striker, Patrice has made his name as an attacking left-back with some fantastic trickery on the ball.  He was voted in the PFA Team of the Year and is now a fixture in the Manchester United first-team.  For Les Blues, Evra is in fierce competition with Eric Abidal for the first-team spot, but has proven himself classy enough to win over 20 caps.

Patrice Evra was born on 15th May 1981 in Dakar, Senegal – where his father was working as a diplomat.  At the age of 6, Patrice moved to Paris, and worked hard at his football.  As one of 26 siblings, Evra always had someone to play football with, and impressed enough to win a youth contract with Paris Saint Germain, though he was overlooked for a full contract.

Patrice started his career with Italian minnows Marsala, who were willing to take a gamble on him.  He moved to Sicily, and somehow managed to get lost on the island on his first day there – though thankfully some kind locals helped him find the club.  At Marsala, Evra was played as a striker, with his pace and trickery helping him to net 5 goals in 25 appearances.  He had done enough to win a move to Monza, in the Italian second division, though he was under-used here, and moved on to OGC Nice in the French second division.

It was at Nice that Patrice started to make an impression, though not as a striker.  His manager, Salvioni, played him at left-back when they were short of players and Patrice excelled – even winning a place in the Ligue 2’s Team of the Year at left-back!

Because of the close links between the two clubs, Patrice transferred from Nice to Monaco in June 2002, allowing his old club to make some much-needed money.  Manager Didier Deschamps was also an admirer of this talented young Frenchman, so Evra was thrown straight into the first-team, helping Monaco to finish as runners-up in the league and also reach the Champions League final – though Jose Mourinho’s Porto walked off with the winner’s medals.

With Monaco struggling in the league having sold off many of their finalists, Evra looked to move on too – hoping for another chance to win the biggest prize in Europe.

Patrice Evra was unveiled to the Press at Old Trafford on January 10th 2006, along with fellow new signing Nemanja Vidic.  Whilst neither of them managed to make a very good impression with the United fans, both soon got to grips with the pace and physicality of the English game.

Patrice Evra was fighting for a place in the team with fan’s favourite Gabriel Heinze, though he soon managed to make his attacking left-wing play the preferred option.  He shared the spot with Heinze as United romped home to their first league title in four years in 2006/07, but made the place his own following Gabriel Heinze’s open declarations of wanting to leave the club for Liverpool.

Evra was named in the PFA Team of the Year as United went on to win the Premier League and Champions League double, and is now as fixed in the United defence as Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.

Patrice Evra was still at Monaco when he was given his first international call-up.  With the France team again performing miserably in 2004, young Evra was given his chance in August 2004.  His move to United came at the wrong time, with Evra’s struggles at United in the early months costing him a place in the France 2006 World Cup squad.

He was back in the team for Euro 2008, but France crashed out in the group stages.