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Birthdate:
11.01.1978
Birthplace: Leicester, England
Other clubs: Leicester, Birmingham, Wigan, Aston Villa
Bought from: Leicester
Signed for LFC: £11000000 10.03.2000
International debut: 28.04.1999 vs.Hungary
International caps: 57/7 (35/5 at LFC) - 10.10.2009
Liverpool debut:
11.03.2000
Last appearance: 15.05.2004
Debut goal: 01.04.2000
Last goal: 08.05.2004
Contract expiry: 18.05.2004
LFC league games/goals: 150 / 39
Total LFC games/goals: 223 / 60
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Player Notes:
Emile Ivanhoe Heskey made his Premiership debut as a 17-year-old for Leicester City against QPR in March 1995. Leicester were relegated that spring but under the guidance of new manager Martin O'Neill went straight back up to the top division. Heskey scored 10 goals in 35 games in his first whole season in the Premier 1996/97. England manager Glenn Hoddle introduced Heskey to the England set-up the following season, suggesting he had a bright future. But Heskey was struggling in front of goal scoring only once in 21 games, although he was starring with the England Under-21 side. Heskey's agent had already started to complain about Leicester's lack of ambition and predicted that Heskey would at best stay there until he was 22-years-old. Liverpool's name was linked constantly with him in the press. Roy Evans has since gone on record to say that he had wanted to sign him around this time.
Heskey's contract was due to expire in the summer of 1999, but O'Neill managed to convince the player to sign up for one more year. O'Neill had immense faith in Heskey and he repaid it by scoring at will and halfway through the 1998/99 season he had scored 9 goals compared with the 10 goals he had scored in the whole of the season before. But Emile had scored his last goal of that 1998-99 season. He complained of back problems and was forced to be substituted in many games because of his condition. Leicester slid down the table. Heskey was back to his best in April after hours of strengthening his back muscles in the gym and Leicester started getting some better results. Kevin Keegan gave Heskey his long-awaited England debut and despite intense speculation about his future another year was added to his club contract.
Heskey began the 1999/2000 season strongly, scoring 4 goals in 5 games. It seemed to be an open secret that Liverpool would buy him before the season was over. He made his full England debut on the 22nd of February 2000 and was voted man-of-the-match against Argentina. A few days later he won the Worthington cup for the second time in his Leicester career. He scored his 8th goal of the season against Sunderland on the 5th of March and signed a contract with Liverpool a few days later, becoming their most expensive player at eleven million pounds. Emile played 194 games with Leicester and scored 46 goals.
Houllier remembered seeing Owen and Heskey play together up front with the England Under-18 team in France and there's no denying that Heskey was clearly a favourite of Houllier's. Emile played superbly in his first full season, contributed 22 goals from 56 matches in the historic "Treble" season, but after that he struggled to score goals for Liverpool at the same rate as he had done for Leicester. 2003/2004 was Heskey's make-or-break season but he didn't return to his best form and was sold to Birmingham City for an initial fee of 3.5 million pounds.
Emile was one of Birmingham's best players during 2004-05 but the following season The Blues were relegated and Heskey only contributed 4 goals from 34 league appearances. Some of the fans seemed to turn against him and all these factors led to a move to Wigan Athletic in July, 2006. Two seasons with Wigan brought him nearly as many league goals as he had managed during two seasons with Birmingham.
Heskey was a regular in England's senior international squad during his Liverpool days but was often left out when he was playing for less fashionable clubs. Although he was named in the England squad for Euro 2004, he did not make the trip to Germany for the World Cup two years later. The emergence of Peter Crouch as a surprisingly-prolific scorer also dented Heskey's chances of further international football. However, he was called up again for two home Euro 2008 qualifiers towards the end of 2007 and was also picked by new national manager Fabio Capello for his first squad to play against Switzerland (although he subsequently had to withdraw because of an injury) and again when England hosted the Czech Republic at the new Wembley in a friendly international in August, 2008. Heskey has played nearly 450 league appearances for the four English clubs he has represented, for whom he has in total scored well over a century of goals. |
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