Chris Gunter

Personal information
Full name	Christopher Ross Gunter
Date of birth	21 July 1989 (1989-07-21) (age 20)
Place of birth	Newport, Wales
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Nottingham Forest
Number	16
Youth career
1997–2006	Cardiff City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–2008	Cardiff City	28	(0)
2008–2009	Tottenham Hotspur	5	(0)
2009	→ Nottingham Forest (loan)	8	(0)
2009–	Nottingham Forest	17	(1)
National team‡
2005–2006	Wales U17	11	(2)
2006	Wales U19	3	(0)
2006–	Wales U21	5	(0)
2007–	Wales	20	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:27, 18 November 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:00, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Christopher Ross "Chris" Gunter (born 21 July 1989) is a Welsh footballer who plays for Nottingham Forest, and the Wales national team, as a defender. In 2007 he became the youngest Cardiff City player ever to play for the full Welsh team.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Cardiff City 1.2 Tottenham Hotspur 1.3 Nottingham Forest 2 International career 2.1 Youth teams 2.2 Senior team 3 Club statistics 4 Personal life 5 Trivia 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Cardiff City

Born in Newport, Gunter started out as a striker when he played for Durham Colts and Albion Rovers but switched to full-back at a young age and signed for the Cardiff City youth side at the age of eight. He signed his first professional contract with the club on 1 August 2006 along with fellow Cardiff academy graduate Darcy Blake.

Primarily a right-sided defender, Gunter made his debut for Cardiff City on 22 August 2006 against Barnet in the League Cup.

In March 2007 he won the Football League's Apprentice of the Year award^[1] after impressing in the first team squad due to injuries to some regular players and during the summer of 2007, Gunter was the subject of two bids from Premier League club Everton. Both, however, were rejected.^[2]

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

According to reports on the 21 December, Cardiff agreed a substantial fee with Tottenham Hotspur and therefore allowed Gunter to enter into talks with the club. Cardiff also stated that Tottenham had "met their valuation of the player" which had previously been reported at £4m.^[3] On 22 December, Gunter passed a medical at White Hart Lane with a view to a £2 million move. The move was made official on 24 December and he joined the club after the transfer window opened on 1 January 2008.^[4] Chris made his debut for Spurs in an FA Cup 3rd Round Replay against Reading at the Madejski Stadium.

On 12 March 2009, Gunter moved on loan to Nottingham Forest for the rest of the 2008–09 season. ^[5]

[edit] Nottingham Forest

On 17 July 2009 Tottenham Hotspur accepted a bid of £1.75 million from Nottingham Forest.^[6] Forest completed the signing of Gunter on 20 July on a four-year contract.^[7] He scored his first goal for the club in a 1-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle on 27 September 2009. It was also Gunter's first goal in senior football.

[edit] International career

[edit] Youth teams

He started his Wales career in 2003-04, making four appearances for the schools under-15 development squad before moving up to the Welsh Schools under-16 squad and played in a friendly against Republic of Ireland plus three Victory Shield internationals. He then made 11 appearances at Wales under-17 level during 2005-06, playing in two rounds of the UEFA Championships as Wales qualified from the opening group to reach the elite stage. His next step was playing for the Wales U19 squad in the Milk Cup.^[8]

Gunter was the youngest player to play for the Wales Under-21 team when he played against Cyprus Under-21 at the age of 16 years and 299 days until former club mate Aaron Ramsey broke the record in August 2007.

[edit] Senior team

He eventually made his full international debut for Wales in a friendly match against New Zealand on 26 May 2007 at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham; in doing so he became the youngest ever Cardiff City player to play for the senior Wales team. Gunter started as a left-back in a young and inexperienced Wales team in the teams Euro 2008 qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Germany giving very impressive performances in the games which ended 2-2 and 0-0. He was ever present at right back during 2010 World Cup qualifying and is the only player in the squad to have played in all ten matches. He was called up for a November friendly against Scotland but withdrew due to illness.

[edit] Club statistics

As of 05 October 2009.

Club Performance

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Nottingham Forest	2009-10	11	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	13	1
	2008-09	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
Tottenham Hotspur		3	0	1	0	1	0	7	0	12	0
	2007-08	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Cardiff City		13	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	17	0
	2006-07	15	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	18	0
Total		52	1	3	0	8	0	9	0	72	1

[edit] Personal life

As a youngster Gunter attended Durham Road Junior School before moving on to St Julian's High School as a teenager. He also followed Cardiff City, along with his brother Marc, as a supporter and continued to go to away games on supporters coaches up until 2006. Gunter also holds a BTEC National Diploma in sports Studies.^[9] Gunter was a former flatmate of fellow Welshman Aaron Ramsey who plays for Spurs' London rivals Arsenal.^[10]

[edit] Trivia

• On 5 September 2009, Chris hit the crossbar on Sky Sports' Soccer AM Crossbar Challenge

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Chris Gunter FIFA competition record
• Chris Gunter career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at official website of Tottenham Hotspur

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