Chris Eagles

Christopher Eagles (born 19 November 1985 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire) is an English footballer whose most favoured position is as an attacking right-sided midfielder. He currently plays for Manchester United. Originally coming through the youth system at Watford, he left when he was 14 to join the Manchester United academy. The compensation owed to Watford for this move would later form part of the package which took Danny Webber in the opposite direction.^[1] Eagles made his first-team debut for United on 28 October 2003 as a second-half substitute for Kieran Richardson in an extra-time win away to Leeds United in the League Cup.^[2] He played once more that season, this time as a substitute for Cristiano Ronaldo as United lost 2-0 away to West Bromwich Albion in a 4th round League Cup tie.^[3] Eagles was loaned to Watford on 21 January 2005,^[4] for whom he made 13 appearances and scored one goal (against Gillingham^[5]). He was also loaned to Sheffield Wednesday for the first half of the 2005-06 season.^[6] He scored his first goal for Sheffield Wednesday in their derby match against Leeds.^[7] He ended his loan spell with a total of three goals for Wednesday. On 6 January 2006, Eagles was again loaned to Watford,^[8] making his debut against Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup, with the Hornets going down 3-0. In his first league appearance for Watford against Stoke City, he scored the only goal of the match for Watford.^[9] His winning goal in the 1-0 away win at Brighton & Hove Albion on 18 February from 50 yards (almost the halfway line)^[10] - reminiscent of David Beckham's goal for Manchester United vs Wimbledon a decade earlier - won him the club's prestigious goal of the season award. Despite an obvious shortage in central midfielders at the club, on 31 August 2006, the day after fellow United team mate Giuseppe Rossi agreed to go out on loan to Newcastle United, Eagles agreed to spend four months on loan at Dutch outfit NEC Nijmegen, in order to gain more experience.^[11] On 21 December 2006, Eagles decided to take the option of returning to Manchester United after struggling at NEC Nijmegen to get many games.^[12] He only made 11 appearances for NEC, with the majority coming as a substitute. On 13 March 2007, Eagles featured in the second half for United in an exhibition match at Old Trafford against Marcello Lippi's Europe XI. On 28 April 2007, Eagles scored his first senior goal (in the 93rd minute) for United in a 4-2 Premier League win over Everton after coming on as a second half substitute, putting Manchester United five points clear in their race for the Premiership title.On 20 July 2007 during Manchester United's Asian Tour, he scored for United in the friendly match against FC Seoul. He also scored a spectacular 35 yard volley in a friendly match against Shenzen FC 4 days later, bringing his total in the Asia Tour to 3 goals in 5 games. Eagles recently stated that he wants to offer further help to his team-mates by featuring in the first team set-up in the 07-08 season.^[13]

References

External links

• Chris Eagles career stats at Soccerbase
• Official Manchester United profile