Shaun Wright-Phillips

Being the son of a football star is not always an easy treat. Shaun is the adopted son of Ian Wright, and while his father played for Arsenal for most of his career, Shaun was enrolled with Nottingham Forest for a while, before being recruited by the City Academy at the age of 17. Shaun has always been a good prospect, and although he is not a physically big player, when it comes to technique and skills with the ball, he's second to none. During his first years with City he gained experience from the U- and reserve sides, playing together with the likes of Chris Killen, and David Shuker.

During the 1999/2000 promotion campaign, Shaun was introduced to first team football, and was given a handfull of outings to give him the match experience. And the following season he battled his way into the line-up as a right-winger keeping the likes of Mark Kennedy and Gerard Wiekens out of the team for periods.

Shauns ability to get past defenders and provide the strikers with competent passes may be the key to his future success. He has been a regular England U-21 and was introduced to senior level football under Keegan during the 2001/2002 1st Division campaign when he played 35 league games. The following season he was in the starting line-up 23 times, and came on as a substitute 8 times.

Shaun's big breakthrough came in the 2003/04 season. He was by now a regular in the side in the right-wing position. In 46 leage and cup-games he scored 11 times, including a stunning drive in the 4-1 home-win against the rags. He was picked by Sven Goran Eriksson for England during the summer 2004, and got his debut from the subs bench against Ukraine. With 20 minutes to go Shaun picked up the ball in his own half, carried it forward on a jinking run towards the end of the box before firing hom low into the far corner behind the keeper. A trademark goal from the tricky winger. This was also the first England goal by a City player since Trevor Francis in 1982.

Often admired as the most promising of all the talented players to have graduated from the Manchester City Academy. After 181 games and 31 goals for City, the right winger was transferred to Chelsea for £21m in 2005. Still only 23 years of age it was expected that Shaun had his best years as a footballer before him, but City were low on cash, and the bid from Chelsea seemed too good to pass.

His talent and promising start to his career was not enough to secure him a regular place in the star struck Chelsea midfield. In three seasons with the Blues of London Shaun made it to 139 games, but in nearly half of those games he had to settle for the role of substitute. He only managed 10 goals for the London club. Still his time with Chelsea brought him the League Championship and a FA cup winners medal. His chances under Jose Mourinho may have seemed limited, and City did try to lure their former Talisman back to the club before the 2007/08 season. Shaun decided to stay and fight for his place, but when Avram Grant took over Shaun was even more overlooked, and did not even make the bench for the 2008 Champions League final. During the summer 2008 Grant was replaced with Felipe Scolari and Shaun was again in the midst of transfer speculation.

Scolari did not seem overly impressed by the little wingers abilities and a tug of war between Everton and Manchester City ended with Shaun joining his former club for a fee around £9m. A substantial amount of money for a player who wasn't considered to be a regular neither for club nor country, but still a knockdown compared to the initial £21m the London club had to pay for his services.

Playing Record:

Season:	Club:	LEA	LEG	FCA	FCG	LCA	LCG	ECA	ECG	TOA	TOG
1999-2000	Manchester City	5	0	0	0	1	0
2000-2001	Manchester City	15	0	0	0	4	0
2001-2002	Manchester City	35	8	3	0	2	0
2002-2003	Manchester City	31	1	1	0	2	0
2003-2004	Manchester City	34	7	4	1	2	2
2004-2005	Manchester City	33	10	1	0	2	1
2005-2008	Chelsea	82	4	14	4	9	1
2008-2009	Manchester City	27	5	0	0	1	0
Total:		262	35	23	5	23	4

LA = League Attendances. LG = League Goals.
FCA = FA Cup Attendances. FCG = FA Cup Goals.
LCA = League Cup Attendances. LCG = League Cup Goals.
ECA = European Cup Attendances. ECG = European Cup Goals.
TOA = Total Attendances. TOG = Total Goals