Sylvan Ebanks-Blake

Personal information
Full name	Sylvan Augustus Ebanks-Blake
Date of birth	29 March 1986 (1986-03-29) (age 23)
Place of birth	Cambridge, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1][2]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number	9
Youth career
	Cambridge United
	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2006	Manchester United	0	(0)
2006	→ Royal Antwerp (loan)	9	(4)
2006–2008	Plymouth Argyle	66	(21)
2008–	Wolverhampton Wanderers	68	(38)
National team‡
2008	England U21	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:24, 24 October 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:24, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Sylvan Augustus Ebanks-Blake (born 29 March 1986) is an English football forward, who plays for Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Plymouth Argyle 1.3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Honours 2.1 Club 2.2 Individual 3 Career statistics 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Early career

Born in Cambridge, Ebanks-Blake's first clubs were Cherry Hinton Lions, and Fulbourn Falcons in the Cambridge area. He was also on schoolboy terms with Cambridge United, but declined an offer to become a scholar there when a much larger club showed their interest. Despite being a boyhood Liverpool fan, he started his professional career at Manchester United as a youth team player. He played his first match at senior level for the club on 26 October 2004 against Crewe Alexandra in the League Cup. One year later, he scored his first senior level goal for the club against Barnet in another League Cup tie, and was starting to show some good form to prove his potential.

Towards the end of the 2004–05 season, he fractured his leg and was ruled out for the remainder of the season. He recovered and scored a hat-trick on his return for the Manchester United reserves. However, he was never called on for a first team league game again, although he was an unused substitute in several Champions League games. In January 2006, he moved on loan to Royal Antwerp in Belgium to gain first team experience, where he scored four goals in nine matches.

[edit] Plymouth Argyle

Ebanks-Blake returned to England in the summer and signed a three year deal with Championship club Plymouth Argyle on 14 July 2006. The fee paid to Manchester United was an initial £200,000, potentially rising to over £300,000 due to clauses. Ebanks-Blake was new manager Ian Holloway's first signing and became a first team regular.

The striker notched up 10 goals in his first season at Argyle, many of which came at the end of the season. He cemented his status as a fan favourite and top prospect with 11 league goals by New Year in the 2007–08 season, despite starting the season on the substitutes bench.

[edit] Wolverhampton Wanderers

This form attracted Wolverhampton Wanderers to bid £1.5million in the January transfer window which activated a buy-out clause, and he signed for them on 11 January 2008 in a four-and-a-half year deal.^[3] He started well at his new club, scoring seven goals in his first eight games, and being named Championship Player of the Month for March 2008.^[4] The season ended with him winning the Golden Boot for the Championship with 23 goals.

The striker began the 2008–09 season in a similar vein, scoring nine goals in the opening 13 league games. He scored a hat-trick, the first of his professional career, against Norwich City on 3 February 2009, to once again reach the 20 goal mark. He was named Championship Player of the Year at the 2009 Football League Awards, and also won the Goal of the Year award for his solo effort at Charlton Athletic in March 2008.^[5] Having beaten his previous year's tally, Ebanks-Blake retained the Championship’s Golden Boot award for his 25 goals.

His final goal of the campaign came against Queen's Park Rangers on 18 April 2009, which gave the team the 1-0 win that secured promotion to the Premier League. The season also saw him win a cap for the England under-21 side, when he came on in a friendly against the Czech Republic U21s on 18 November 2008.^[6]

In July 2009, Ebanks-Blake signed a one-year contract extension, tying him to the club until July 2013.^[7]

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

Manchester United

• FA Youth Cup: 2003

Wolverhampton Wanderers

• Football League Championship: 2008-09

[edit] Individual

• Championship Golden Boot: 2007-08, 2008-09

[edit] Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Manchester United	2004–05	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
	2005–06	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1
Royal Antwerp (loan)	2005–06	9	4	-	-	-	-	9	4
Plymouth Argyle	2006–07	41	10	3	0	1	0	45	10
	2007–08	25	11	1	1	3	1	29	13
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2007-08	20	12	0	0	0	0	20	12
	2008-09	39	25	2	0	2	0	43	25
Totals	All	134	62	6	1	8	2	148	65

(as of 15 March 2009)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official club profile
• Sylvan Ebanks-Blake career stats at Soccerbase

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jamie Cureton	Football League Championship top scorer 2007–08 2008–09	Most recent

v • d • e Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. – current squad 1 Hennessey · 3 Elokobi · 4 Edwards · 5 Stearman · 6 Craddock · 7 Kightly · 8 Henry · 9 Ebanks-Blake · 10 Keogh · 11 S. Ward · 12 Surman · 13 Hahnemann · 14 David Jones · 15 Halford · 16 Berra · 17 Jarvis · 19 Iwelumo · 20 Milijaš · 23 Zubar · 26 Hill · 27 Mancienne · 29 Doyle · 31 Murray · 32 Foley · 33 Maierhofer · 35 Castillo · 36 Dunleavy · 37 Bennett · 39 Winnall · 41 Hemmings · 42 Malone · 43 Spray · 44 Mendez-Laing · Manager: McCarthy

Persondata
NAME	Ebanks-Blake, Sylvan Augustus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ebanks-Blake, Sylvan
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH	1986-3-29
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cambridge, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH