Matthew Claude Mills (born 14 July 1986 in Swindon, Wiltshire) is an English football centre back, who currently plays for Reading.

[edit] Personal life

His youngest brother, Joseph, was a trainee at Southampton, and made his first team debut in 2008. His other brothers, Jon-Paul and Jamie both play for Hellenic Football League side Witney United.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Southampton and Manchester City

The promising England U19 defender signed for Manchester City from Southampton on a three-and-a-half-year deal in January 2006. A tall, athletic and composed centre back, Mills linked up again with City reserve boss Steve Wigley, who worked with the youngster during his spell in charge of Saints' Academy. Mills displayed his potential during a handful of Football League Championship appearances for the south-coast club, whilst also enjoying loan spells at Bournemouth and Coventry City. On 26 January 2007, he joined Colchester United^[1] on loan, returning in April.

[edit] Doncaster Rovers

On 17 August 2007, Mills joined Doncaster Rovers on a six month loan deal, linking up with manager Sean O'Driscoll for a second time in his career. He had his loan spell cut short on 21 November 2007, but he then rejoined Doncaster on loan following his spell out through injury and stayed at the South Yorkshire club for the rest of the season. He was part of the starting eleven which won promotion to the Championship, beating Leeds United at Wembley Stadium in the Football League One Play-off Final in May 2008.

He expressed his desire to join Doncaster Rovers after winning promotion at Wembley and was expected to sign in the close season. After two months of speculation about his future, and his move to Doncaster Rovers in doubt after a change of manager at Manchester City, he was eventually unveiled as Doncaster Rovers' record signing when he signed a three year contract with Doncaster on 30 July 2008.^[2] Doncaster Rovers paid £300,000 for his services which smashed the club's transfer record, previously set with the signing of James Hayter for £200,000 in 2007. On signing permanently for Doncaster Rovers, Mills was given the number 5 shirt which had been vacated by the departure of Graeme Lee; Mills had previously worn number 22 when he was on loan with the club.

In the summer of 2009, Mills had attracted the interest of a number of bigger clubs including Birmingham City and Newcastle United. However on 10 June 2009, Nottingham Forest put in an offer of £2,000,000 for Mills which was rejected by Doncaster Rovers.^[3]. A subsequent offer from fellow Championship side Reading was accepted, however, and Mills left Doncaster in August 2009.

[edit] Reading

On 5 August 2009, Mills was officially unveiled as a Reading player, signing a three-year contract. The exact transfer fee was left undisclosed, however the transfer fee is believed to be somewhere in the region of £2,000,000.^[4] Mills made his debut for Reading in a 0-0 draw against Swansea City on 18 August 2009.^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Matthew Mills career stats at Soccerbase
• Matthew Mills profile at readingfc.co.uk