Emile Heskey

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Emile Heskey
Personal information
Full name	Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey
Date of birth	January 11, 1978
Place of birth	Evington, Leicester, England
Height	6 ft 2 in / 1.89m
Nickname	Emskey, Bruno
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Wigan Athletic
Number	9
Youth clubs
1995–96	Leicester City
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1995–2000 2000–04 2004–06 2006–	Leicester City Liverpool Birmingham City Wigan Athletic	185 (46) 222 (59) 068 (14) 013 (3)
National team**
1999-2004	England	043 (5)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:23, 8 December 2006 (UTC). ** National team caps and goals correct as of 21:07, 3 September 2006 (UTC).

Emile William Ivanhoe Heskey (born 11 January 1978 in Evington, Leicester, to an Antiguan father and Barbudan mother) is an English professional footballer currently playing for Wigan Athletic, he is a former England international. He is a powerful centre forward who can also play as a strong running left winger - though this position often wasted his talents when he was forced to play there for England under Sven-Göran Eriksson.^{[citation needed]}

Heskey attended the same secondary school as Gary Lineker (The City of Leicester School), and, also like Lineker, started his professional football career at Leicester City. Many people, including Pelé,^{[citation needed]} believe that Emile is one of the world's great targetman for long balls and throughout his career he has proved this, with endless head downs to his strike partners. It has been acknowledged by many^{[name a specific person/group]} that Emile is considered to be a cross between Jan Koller and Gerd Müller. He made his league debut in 1995, and then made 30 appearances for the Foxes in 1995-96 - helping City earn promotion to the Premiership. He starred alongside Michael Owen in the England Under-18 team which finished third in the European Championships in France. Prior to his professional debut, he was a ball boy at the 1994 Football league Division 1 play-off final, which took place at The Empire Stadium, Wembley, between Leicester City and Derby County.

Heskey won his first major honour in English football when he helped Leicester to victory over Middlesbrough in the Worthington Cup final, repeated in 2000 with a 2-1 win against Tranmere Rovers and in 2001 when Liverpool defeated Birmingham City.

The towering striker made his England debut in a friendly against Hungary in Budapest in a 1-1 draw and on his first start, against Argentina at Wembley, he gave a performance which won him the Man of the Match award.^{[citation needed]} That showing ensured he was in England's Euro 2000 squad. However his two substitute performances in the tournament were poor^{[citation needed]} as England crashed out.

Heskey joined Liverpool in April 2000 in an £11 million move that was one of the worst kept secrets in football. Heskey's move set the record transfer fee for the Merseyside club.

He made his Anfield debut in the Premiership clash with Sunderland and played well but the season finished with continuing doubts^{[name a specific person/group]} about his goalscoring prowess. During the 2000-01 season Heskey put an end to those scoring worries by smashing home 23 goals for the Reds and rocketing himself up the England pecking order.

He continued his scoring exploits against Spain in February 2001 when he scored one of England's three goals in the friendly victory. But Heskey was relegated to the bench for England's next match against Finland, although came on for the final 20 minutes of the game for Steve McManaman.

He has also played on the left-wing under Sven-Göran Eriksson. He was restored to his forward role for the World Cup qualifier against Germany in September 2001 and scored the final goal in England's 5-1 victory in Munich. Though he lost his scoring touch somwehat during the 2001-02 season, he still managed to score 14 goals for Liverpool.

One of Eriksson's favourites, he was selected in the squad for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, and started in the left-wing role against Sweden, but looked far more effective when moved back into the forward line to partner Michael Owen.^{[citation needed]} He netted against Denmark as England reached the quarter-finals, but many England fans^{[name a specific person/group]} do not believe he is the best option for England's attacking line. This is backed up by his strike rate statistic, the worst of any post-war regular England striker.^{[citation needed]} Conversely, Heskey's presence in the England team coincided with the best run of results achieved by an England side for many years;^{[citation needed]} some might conclude^{[name a specific person/group]} that Emile was and is crucial to any success England may have. Some argue^{[name a specific person/group]} that he is the English player with whom Michael Owen enjoys the best partnership.

Scoring just 9 goals in the 2002-03 season - only five in the Premiership - did not help his cause. However, despite his critics^{[name a specific person/group]} Heskey continued to be an integral part of the international squad and took over the captaincy from Michael Owen when England beat Serbia and Montenegro 2-1 in his hometown of Leicester in June 2003.

In the 2003-04 season Heskey faced increasing competition from Milan Baroš as Owen's strike partner. Despite this he scored 7 league goals and secured a place in the England squad for the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal.

At the end of the 2003-04 season, Heskey signed for Birmingham City for £6.25 million, as a replacement for the retiring Christophe Dugarry, thus becoming Birmingham's most expensive player. It is rumoured that only £3.5m was paid up front however,^{[citation needed]} with other add ons for goals scored, Birmingham reaching Europe and additional England caps, so the actual price paid is unclear.

Despite Birmingham's mediocre 2004-05 season, Heskey is considered^{[name a specific person/group]} to have been probably the most prominent and consistent player for the Blues, winning four club awards at the end of the season - Player's Player of the Season, Fan's Player of the Season, Top Goalscorer (11) and Most Man of the Match Awards.

Birmingham's poor 2005-06 season, during which Heskey scored only 4 goals in 34 league appearances, culminated in relegation to The Championship. Heskey had consistently failed to live up to expectations and was seen by many fans^{[name a specific person/group]} as an expensive White Elephant. During the summer of 2006 Heskey was sold to Wigan Athletic for £5.5m.

Since the emergence of Peter Crouch as England's "Plan B", the possibility of a recall has receded further on the horizon. Whilst offering pace and power, his poor international scoring record of just 5 goals in 43 appearances, coupled with his inconsistent domestic seasonal tallies, do not compare favourably to other English strikers in his mould.

On his 500th League appearance Heskey scored his first goal for Wigan Athletic in a 1-0 Premiership victory over Reading FC on the 26th August 2006.

[edit] External links

• Emile Heskey career stats at Soccerbase

Wigan Athletic F.C. - Current Squad
1 Filan | 3 McMillan | 4 Jackson | 5 Hall | 6 de Zeeuw | 7 Camara | 8 Kilbane | 9 Heskey | 10 McCulloch | 11 Johansson | 12 Pollitt | 13 Kirkland | 14 Landzaat | 15 Wright | 16 Valencia | 17 Boyce | 18 Scharner | 19 Taylor | 20 Teale | 22 Cotterill | 23 Webster | 24 Skoko | 25 Todorov | 26 Baines | 31 Montrose | 32 Owens | 36 Waterhouse | Manager: Jewell

	England squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Seaman | 2 Mills | 3 A. Cole | 4 Sinclair | 5 Ferdinand | 6 Campbell | 7 Beckham | 8 Scholes | 9 Fowler | 10 Owen | 11 Heskey | 12 Brown | 13 Martyn | 14 Bridge | 15 Keown | 16 Southgate | 17 Sheringham | 18 Hargreaves | 19 J. Cole | 20 Vassell | 21 Butt | 22 James | 23 Dyer | Coach: Eriksson