Chris Gunter
 Christopher "Chris" Gunter makes his full international debut for Wales against New Zealand | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Christopher Ross Gunter | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Right full-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
| Number | 16 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:09, 10 September 2008 (UTC) | |||
Christopher Ross "Chris" Gunter (born July 21 1989 in Newport) is a Welsh footballer, currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur and the Wales national team. In 2007 he became the youngest Cardiff City player ever to play for the full Welsh team.
Club career
Cardiff City
Gunter started life as a Striker when he played for Durham Colts and Albion Rovers but switched to full-back at a young age and signed for the Cardiff City youth side at the age of eight. He signed his first professional contract with the club on 1 August, 2006 along with fellow Cardiff academy graduate Darcy Blake.
Primarily a right-sided defender, Gunter made his debut for Cardiff City on the 22 August 2006 against Barnet in the League Cup.
In March 2007 he won the Football League's Apprentice of the Year award after impressing in the first team squad due to injuries to some regular players and during the summer of 2007, Gunter was the subject of two bids from Premiership club Everton. Both, however, were rejected.[1]
Tottenham Hotspur
According to reports on the 21 December, Cardiff agreed a substantial fee with Tottenham Hotspur and therefore allowed Gunter to enter into talks with the club. Cardiff also stated that Tottenham had "met their valuation of the player" which had previously been reported at £4m.[2] On December 22, Gunter passed a medical at White Hart Lane with a view to a £3 million move. The move was made official on December 24 and he joined the club after the transfer window opened on 1 January 2008.[3] Chris made his debut for Spurs in an FA Cup 3rd Round Replay against Reading at the Madejski Stadium.
International career
He started his Wales career in 2003-2004, making four appearances for the schools under-15 development squad before moving up to the Welsh Schools under-16 squad and played in a friendly against Republic of Ireland plus three Victory Shield internationals. He then made 11 appearances at Wales under-17 level during 2005-2006, playing in two rounds of the Uefa Championships as Wales qualified from the opening group to reach the elite stage. His next step was playing for the Wales U19 squad in the Milk Cup.[4]
Gunter became the second youngest player to play for the Wales Under-21 team when he played against Cyprus Under-21 at the age of 16 years and 299 days.
He eventually made his full international debut for Wales in a friendly match against New Zealand on 26 May 2007 at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham; in doing so he became the youngest ever Cardiff City player to play for the senior Wales team. Gunter started as a left-back in a young and inexperienced Wales team in the teams Euro 2008 qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Germany giving very impressive performances in the games which ended 2-2 and 0-0.
Club stats
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Tottenham Hotspur | 2008-09 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2007-08 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Cardiff City | 2007-08 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 2006-07 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 0 | |
| Total | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 41 | 0 | |
Personal life
As a youngster he attended Durham Road Junior School before moving on to St Julian's High School as a teenager. He also followed Cardiff City, along with his brother Marc, as a supporter and continued to go to away games on supporters coaches up until 2006.
Gunter also holds a BTEC National Diploma in sports studies.[5]
References
- ^ "Everton fail in bids for Gunter" BBC Sport. Retrieved on 26 November, 2007
- ^ "Gunter agrees to Tottenham talks" BBC Sport Retrieved on 22 December, 2007
- ^ "Tottenham confirm Gunter transfer" BBC Sport Retrieved on 24 December, 2007
- ^ "Cardiff is a great place to be right now - Gunter" South Wales Echo. Retrieved on 26 November, 2007
- ^ "Birthday boy is still in touch with his roots" South Wales Echo. Retrieved on 26 November, 2007
External links
- Chris Gunter at Soccerbase
- Official website of Cardiff City Football Club