Ricardo Fuller
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| Ricardo Fuller | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ricardo Dwayne Fuller | |
| Date of birth | 31 October 1979 | |
| Place of birth | Kingston, Jamaica | |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Stoke City | |
| Number | 10 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1999–2001 2001 2001–2002 2001–2002 2002–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006 2006– |
Tivoli Gardens Crystal Palace Tivoli Gardens → Hearts (loan) Preston North End Portsmouth Southampton → Ipswich Town (loan) Stoke City |
? (?) 8 (0) ? (?) 27 (8) 58 (27) 31 (1) 31 (9) 3 (2) 72 (25) |
| National team2 | ||
| Jamaica | 33 (4) | |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Ricardo Dwayne Fuller (born October 31, 1979 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican football player who currently plays as a striker for English Premier League club Stoke City and for the Jamaica national football team.
Contents |
[edit] Tivoli Gardens & Crystal Palace
Fuller began his career with Tivoli Gardens before moving to English club Crystal Palace in February 2001 for £1million, after impressing on trial during January. Despite this he played just eight games for Palace (having suffered from knee problems; fans nicknamed him 'Glass-Knees'), and after failing to settle, he returned to Tivoli at the end of the campaign.
[edit] Hearts
Fuller spent the next season (2001–02) on loan at Scottish Premier League club Hearts. Fuller had an instant impact, scoring ten goals in 29 appearances. However, the Edinburgh-based club could not afford to sign Fuller on a permanent basis, and so English league side Preston North End stepped in to sign the striker, paying £500,000.
[edit] Preston North End
Fuller scored on his Preston debut, a 2–1 defeat at home to old club Crystal Palace, and soon became a vital team player. He had an explosive scoring rate, but unfortunately he suffered knee ligament damage in early December, which ended his season prematurely. He had scored 11 goals in only 20 appearances for the club.
A fit again Fuller began the 2003–04 season on fire, including a run of six goals in five games, but his form tailed off as his knee troubled him once more. Despite this, he still scored 19 goals that season.
[edit] Portsmouth
Both Leeds United and Portsmouth then displayed their interest, however, Fuller's knee problems meant both clubs withdrew their offers after he failed medicals. However, Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp was still keen on the Jamaican and Pompey negotiated a 'pay-as-you-play' deal with Fuller, meaning they would not lose a great deal of money should his recurring knee injuries force him to miss long periods of seasons. Fuller moved to Fratton Park in August 2004 for £1 million, after scoring 31 goals in only 63 appearances for Preston.
Fuller failed to make a huge impact in the FA Premier League, falling down the pecking order as the season progressed. Despite the sale of some of his fellow strikers at the end of the season, the return from long-term injury by strikers Vincent Pericard and Svetoslav Todorov, and the purchase of Collins Mbesuma, meant Fuller was not guaranteed first team football at Portsmouth. New manager Alain Perrin agreed to let Fuller go, and Harry Redknapp, then at Southampton, swooped to sign him for only £90k.
[edit] Southampton & Ipswich Town
His start at Southampton was fairly dramatic, scoring Saints' only goal at Coventry on August 29, 2005, and scoring again at Derby on September 18. After that his career at Saints declined. His perceived lack of effort and his history as a former Portsmouth player, combined with the general air of dissatisfaction at St. Mary’s led to Fuller receiving a considerable amount of abuse from large sections of the home crowd.
In February 2006, he went on loan to Ipswich, where he had an eventful time. In four games, he scored two goals, collected two yellow cards and one red card in the 2–2 draw at Crystal Palace (one of his former clubs), for a hand gesture at the crowd. He returned to Southampton at the end of March.
On his return to Southampton, he was a changed player and in the final 6 games of the season he scored six goals to bring his tally for the season to nine. Unfortunately, he didn't fit into George Burley's plans for 2006–07 and was transferred to Stoke City on transfer deadline day, August 31, 2006.
[edit] Stoke City
Fuller joined Stoke City for a fee of around £500,000. However a significant percentage of the fee depends on the amount of appearances that Fuller makes for the Potters. In his first season at Stoke he was the top goalscorer with 11 goals, but he also had the worst disciplinary record, accumulating 2 red cards and 10 yellow cards.
In the 2007–08 season, Fuller weighed in with 15 goals including a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion at the Britannia Stadium. He has also seemingly controlled his discipline further this season becoming a firm fan favourite in the process.
Fuller missed Stoke's home game against Hull City as he was attending the funeral of his grandmother in his home nation of Jamaica.
[edit] External links
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