James Tomkins
Personal information
Full name	James Oliver Charles Tomkins
Date of birth	March 29, 1989 (1989-03-29) (age 20)
Place of birth	Basildon, England
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	West Ham United
Number	30
Youth career
1997-200	West Ham United
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2008– 2008	West Ham United → Derby County (loan)	24 (1) 07 (0)
National team2
2007–2009 2009 2009–	England U19 England U20 England U21	08 (2) 01 (0) 07 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:41, 26 October 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 07:42, 10 October 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

James Oliver Charles Tomkins (born March 29, 1989 in Basildon, Essex) is an English football player, currently playing for West Ham United.^[1] A product of the West Ham youth academy, he is now in the first team and a regular in the England U-21s. He is often referred to as "Tomka" by his teammates.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Club career

At the age of seven, Tomkins was spotted while playing for his local Sunday League side and signed into West Ham's youth academy. Initially a striker, he eventually switched to his current position in central defence. He signed scholarship forms in 2005. Prior to making his first team debut, his career had been marred by several injuries.

Tomkins made his Premier League debut on 22 March 2008 in a 1–1 draw away to Everton.^[2] Although his costly slip allowed Yakubu Aiyegbeni to score the opening goal^[3], Tomkins made five more starts and a substitute appearance. As first choice centre backs James Collins, Danny Gabbidon and Matthew Upson were all out injured, he enjoyed an extended run in the first team for the remainder of the season, winning the Young Hammer of the Year for 2007–08.

On 27 November he signed for Derby County on a five week loan spell.^[4] He made his debut for Derby in their 3–0 away defeat to Burnley on 29 November 2008.^[5] Tomkins played 8 times in all competitions for Derby County during his loan spell, before being recalled to West Ham on 31 December 2008 by manager Gianfranco Zola.^[6] After his stint with Derby, he started to feature regularly with the Hammers first-team, and on 4 April 2009, he scored his first senior goal, a header from Mark Noble's corner, in a match won 2-0 by West Ham, against Sunderland.^[7][8] The same month, he and several fellow youth products were awarded long-term contract extensions.

[edit] International career

He has represented England at U15^[9], U16,^[10] U17, U19 and currently U21 levels^[1] His U21 debut came on 8 June 2009 in the 7-0 home win against the Azerbiajan U21 team.^[11] He was called up for the 2009 UEFA U-21 Championships as back up. After the tournament, he was recalled to the squad and now regularly partners Michael Mancienne in defence.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• James Tomkins career stats at Soccerbase
• The Wonderful World of West Ham United statistics
• West Ham United Profile at whufc.com

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