Benjamin Robert "Ben" Alnwick (born 1 January 1987) is an English footballer who currently plays for Tottenham Hotspur as a goalkeeper. He has also been capped at under-16 and under-18 level for England.^[2] He has a younger brother called Jak Alnwick, also a goalkeeper, who plays for Newcastle United.^[3]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Sunderland

Alnwick was born in the small Northumberland town of Prudhoe. He spent his boyhood years playing for Prudhoe, a local youth side. He started his professional career at Sunderland, and came to prominence at the climax of their 2004–05 Football League Championship-winning season, replacing the injured Thomas Myhre for Sunderland's last three games. His performances against Leicester City and West Ham United, the games that won Sunderland promotion to the Premier League and Championship win respectively, were impressive. In November 2005, he spent a stint as the number one goalkeeper at Sunderland, replacing Kelvin Davis. Despite impressing, particularly in Sunderland's 3–2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur where he made a penalty save from Robbie Keane Alnwick was dropped in favour of Kelvin Davis. After the departure of Davis to Southampton, Alnwick was given the number one shirt for the 2006–07 season.

After a disappointing start to the season 2006–07 season, Alnwick was relegated to the substitutes bench in favour of Darren Ward by new boss Roy Keane.

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

Just two days after the January 2007 transfer window had opened, Alnwick joined Tottenham Hotspur for £900,000 in a deal that could rise to £1.3m and saw Márton Fülöp going the other way for £500,000. In September 2007 he was loaned to League One side Luton Town on a three-month loan deal.^[4] He was recalled from Luton in October, due to an injury to Paul Robinson.^[5] However, on Monday 7 January 2008, Alnwick joined Leicester City on loan until the end of the season.^[6]

Alnwick fails to save a penalty kick in an M69 derby at the Ricoh Arena

Alnwick made his league debut in an M69 Derby on 12 January, keeping a clean sheet as Leicester won 2–0 at the Walkers Stadium.^[7] He kept four clean sheets in eight league games, conceding six goals before suffering a thigh injury as Leicester were relegated from the Championship.

On 16 October 2008, Alnwick joined League One side Carlisle United on an initial one month loan deal^[8] and was recalled by Tottenham after the one month loan ended to become another serious option for the first team goal-keeper position.^[9] Alnwick made his debut for Tottenham in a Football League Cup semi-final second leg against Burnley, which ended in a 3–2 loss, although Tottenham won 6–4 on aggregate.^[10]

In July 2009, he signed on loan at Norwich City for three months.^[11] Alnwick made his debut in the 4–0 win over Yeovil Town and kept a clean sheet. He returned to Spurs on 5 September after picking up a hip injury that was expected to keep him out for six weeks. ^[12]

[edit] International career

Alnwick received his first call-up to the England under-21 squad ahead of the 15 August 2006 match against Moldova. Still awaiting his debut, Alnwick was named in Stuart Pearce's first squad as England under-21 coach, alongside another uncapped goalkeeper, Joe Hart. He was not chosen to start the match, on 6 February 2007, against Spain.

Alnwick was named in the first England U21 squad to play at the new Wembley against Italy U21s on 24 March 2007, but he remained an unused sub. He was also named in England's squad for the U21 European Championships in the Netherlands. He debuted a year after his first call-up, in a friendly against Romania at Ashton Gate. He came on for the second half as a substitute for Joe Hart, and kept a clean sheet.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tottenham Hotspur Profile
• Ben Alnwick career stats at Soccerbase