Darius Vassell

Personal information
Full name	Darius Markus Vassell
Date of birth	13 June 1980 (1980-06-13) (age 29)
Place of birth	Sutton Coldfield, England
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Playing position	Striker / Winger
Club information
Current club	Ankaragücü
Number	13
Youth career
1996–1998	Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
1998–2005	Aston Villa	0162 (35)
2005–2009	Manchester City	0103 (17)
2009–	Ankaragücü	0008 0(2)
National team‡
2002–2004	England	022 0(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:58, 12 November 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11:51, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Darius Markus Vassell (born 13 June 1980 in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham) is an English Association football player who plays for Turkish Süper Lig side Ankaragücü.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Vassell was raised in Wylde Green and went to the Yenton Primary School in Erdington and John Willmott School, in Falcon Lodge, Sutton Coldfield. He first played football with local junior team Romulus in the Birmingham Boys League scoring a record of 46 in a season and 6 in 1 match.^{[citation needed]} Following this he signed for the Aston Villa youth team.^[2]

[edit] Aston Villa

An Aston Villa fan, Vassell was taken on by the club's School of Excellence. While playing for the club's youth team Vassell set a club record by scoring 39 goals in a single season.^[3] He made his first team debut as a substitute in a 3-1 win against Middlesbrough in August 1998.

Vassell's best qualities were his speed and agility.^[4] Aston Villa fans lamented the fact that his best performances seem to come with England, where he has proved particularly useful as a "super sub", coming on for the last 15 to 20 minutes of a game to trouble a tired defence with his exceptional pace.^[4] One oddity of his career is that he has never finished on the losing side in a league game in which he has scored.^[5]

[edit] Manchester City

Vassell was transferred to Manchester City in July 2005 for £2m.^[6] During his first season for Manchester City, Vassell scored eight league goals in 35 appearances, forming an effective partnership with Andrew Cole. Additionally, he helped the Blues to an FA Cup Quarter Final, scoring two goals in his five cup games. He played part of the season with a hernia problem, which required surgery in the close season.^[7]

In the 2007-08 season, he was assigned the number 12, as team-mate Elano took the number 11 shirt. He generally struggled to find his best form. In the latter half of the season, many of his appearances were as a wide midfielder, as manager Sven-Göran Eriksson adopted a defensive 4-5-1 formation. Vassell was linked with a move away from Eastlands, with Turkish runners-up Besiktas having a £1m bid rejected and linked to other clubs, including Premier League rivals Bolton Wanderers and newly-promoted Derby County. Vassell scored his 50th Premier League goal on 10 February 2008, in the victory against local rivals Manchester United. On 20 April, Vassell scored the opening goal in City's 3-1 win over Portsmouth. Vassell only played 15 games in 2008–09^[8] and was released at the end of the season as his contract expired.^[9]

[edit] Ankaragücü

In July 2009 Vassell signed for the Turkish side Ankaragücü.^[10] Around 3,000 fans turned out and celebrated his arrival.^[11] He scored his first goal in the Turkish Süper Lig against Manisaspor in the second week of the season.^[12] Vassell is considering his future at Ankaragucu as of the 12th November 2009 after the club refused to pay his bill for the hotel he was staying in.^[13]

[edit] International career

Vassell made his England debut on 13 February 2002, in a man of the match performance against Netherlands in a 1–1 draw. Fellow debutants in this game were Michael Ricketts and Wayne Bridge. He scored in the game with a 60th minute bicycle kick to equalise. He was subsequently included in England's 2002 World Cup campaign. He played in three games, starting just one: against Sweden in England's opening group game. The positive contribution of Vassell's England career has been somewhat overshadowed by his penalty shoot-out miss in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004 against hosts Portugal. Coming on for the injured Wayne Rooney early on in the game, Vassell missed England's last spot-kick in the penalty shoot-out, putting England out of the tournament. Vassell has not been recalled to an England squad since a 6-1 friendly win over Iceland in 2004 where he scored twice.

[edit] Personal life

Vassell is a practising Christian, and credits his faith for his survival of a serious car accident.^[2] Vassell was mugged in Didsbury, Manchester in the early hours of 9 December 2008. He was uninjured but his watch and earrings were stolen.^[14] When at Aston Villa Vassell missed several games after using a power drill on his toe nail in attempt to relieve pressure on a swollen toe, leading to an infection.^[15]

[edit] Career statistics

Last updated: 29 August 2009

[edit] International goals

Scores and results list England's goal tally first.

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	13 February 2002	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	1-1	1-1	Friendly match
2	17 April 2002	Liverpool, England	Paraguay	3-0	4-0	Friendly match
3	26 May 2002	Kobe, Japan	Cameroon	1-1	2-2	Friendly match
4	2 April 2003	Sunderland, England	Turkey	1-0	2-0	Euro 2004 Qualifier
5	5 July 2004	Manchester, England	Iceland	4-1	6-1	Friendly match
6	5 July 2004	Manchester, England	Iceland	6-1	6-1	Friendly match

[edit] Honours

[edit] Aston Villa

• FA Cup: 2000 (runner-up)
• Intertoto Cup: 2001

[edit] England

• 2004 FA Summer Tournament: 2004

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website for Darius Vassell
• Darius Vassell at the Internet Movie Database
• Darius Vassell career stats at Soccerbase

England Squad v • d • e England squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Seaman • 2 Mills • 3 A. Cole • 4 Sinclair • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Campbell • 7 Beckham • 8 Scholes • 9 Fowler • 10 Owen • 11 Heskey • 12 Brown • 13 Martyn • 14 Bridge • 15 Keown • 16 Southgate • 17 Sheringham • 18 Hargreaves • 19 J. Cole • 20 Vassell • 21 Butt • 22 James • 23 Dyer • Coach: Eriksson v • d • e England squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 James • 2 G. Neville • 3 A. Cole • 4 Gerrard • 5 Terry • 6 Campbell • 7 Beckham • 8 Scholes • 9 Rooney • 10 Owen • 11 Lampard • 12 Bridge • 13 Robinson • 14 P. Neville • 15 King • 16 Carragher • 17 Butt • 18 Hargreaves • 19 J. Cole • 20 Dyer • 21 Heskey • 22 Walker • 23 Vassell • Coach: Eriksson