| By Sam Fox,
on 19-02-2006 16:35
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John O'Shea. Squad number: 22
John O'Shea
Shirt Number: 22
Position: Defender
Date of Birth: April 30, 1981
Birthplace: Waterford, Ireland
Height: 6 Feet 3 Inches
Weight: 75.28 Kilograms
John signed professional terms with United in August 1998 and made his first team debut just over a year later, away to Aston Villa in a Worthington Cup defeat.
After making twenty appearances and scoring two goals for the Reserves over the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons, John joined Second Division Bournemouth on loan in January 2000, making his League debut for the Cherries against Colchester United.
Some assured displays earned John rave reviews on the south coast, with Bournemouth manager Mel Machin saying, "I thought John O'Shea was fantastic for us considering that he is still only eighteen. He has got a good future and can play on both sides of the defence."
After ten starts and one goal, against Millwall, O'Shea returned to Old Trafford in March 2000, determined to break into the first team. Despite two more appearances in the Worthington Cup, away at Watford and Sunderland, it didn't quite happen for the big man, so instead he embarked on another loan spell in season 2000/01.
This time he followed in the footsteps of Luke Chadwick, Danny Higginbotham and Ronnie Wallwork by joining Royal Antwerp. Although he was first choice central defender for United's partner club in Belgium, he still found time to play international football for the Republic at Under-21 level.
John stepped up to earn his first senior cap on 15 August 2001, when he came on as an 84th minute substitute at home to Croatia. Unfortunately, the debut ended in disappointment when John gave away a penalty in injury time, enabling the visitors to make the score 2-2.
John really made his mark on the United first team in the 2002/03 season, proving his versatility by playing at left-back, right-back, centre-back and central midfield during the Reds' successful Premiership campaign. His forays down the flanks - always accompanied by nut-megs on opponents - saw the birth of a new fans' chant - "When Johnny goes running down the wing, O'Shea, O'Shea."
John ended up with 32 Premiership appearances in 2002/03, at the end of which he picked up the first medal of his senior Reds career.
After an excellent debut season, where he famously nutmegged Real Madrid's Luis Figo in a UefaChampion's League match, in which he inspired a terrace chant sung to the tune of The Beatles' 'Yesterday', this star has been on the wane. In the 2003/04 season he frustrated many Manchester United supporters with a series of technically inept, slow and clumsy performances before being pushed down in the pecking order by the arrival of Gabriel Heinze. He displayed indifferent form in the 2004/05 season and was linked with a move away from Manchester, with Newcastle and Liverpool being linked with the Irishman. One of the highlights of Manchester United's otherwise slightly disappointing season was the 2-4 away victory against Arsenal, in which O'Shea scored an incredible fourth goal by chipping Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia. What followed was a bizarre celebration where it appeared he didn't know what to do with himself, perhaps due to his suprisingly brilliant finish, as well the elation to be comprehensively beating one of the Premiership's strongest teams. Others believe that O'Shea was attempting to imitate the "celebration" of United legend, Eric Cantona, when he scored a brilliant goal into the top left corner. In the 2005/06 season, O'Shea was kept out of the team by the left-back Gabriel Heinze, until the Argentinian picked up a serious injury which will reportedly force him to miss the majority of the season. An injury to Gary Neville also gave O'Shea more first-team opportunities. He has been criticised for his lacklustre performances this season, and is reportedly one of the players lambasted by United veteran Roy Keane in a recent interview on the club's MUTV channel. O'Shea is a regular fixture in the Republic of Ireland national team. La librairie GD n'est pas activée sur votre serveur.
Last update : 19-02-2006 16:35
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