Emile Heskey

Birth Date: Jan 11 1978
Birth Place: Leicester
Birth Nation: England
Height: 188cm
Weight: 88Kg
Nationality: British
Position: Forward

Heskey made his debut in 1995 for Leicester City. and was voted Leicester's young player of the year for the 1995/96 season. After being eased into the first team as a teenager at Leicester, Emile forged an excellent partnership with Tony Cottee

He made 30 appearances for the Foxes in 1995/96, which helped City earn promotion to the Premiership via the play offs. He won his first major honour in English football when Leicester beat Middlesbrough in the Worthington Cup final. He won the same honour in 2000 with a 2-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers and in 2001 when Liverpool beat Birmingham City. Emile starred alongside Michael Owen in the England Under-18 team which finished third in the European Championships in France.

Heskey made his England debut in the friendly game against Hungary in Budapest in a 1-1 draw and in a friendly with Argentina at Wembley, he gave a performance which won him the man of the match award. That showing ensured he was in England's Euro 2000 squad. He joined Liverpool FC and became the club's most expensive player when Gerard Houllier paid Leicester City £11 million for his services in March 2000. Gerard Houllier defended the transfer by simply insisting that Heskey would set Anfield alight.

He made his Anfield debut in the Premiership against Sunderland earning a penalty in front of the Kop end after just three minutes. His first goal for Liverpool arrived in his fifth game when he headed home to complete a 3-0 win at Coventry City.

In the 2000/2001 campaign he scored a superb goal on the opening game giving Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Bradford City at Anfield. He later recorded his first ever senior hat-trick in the 4-0 win against Derby County at Pride Park. That season he finished second top scorer behind Michael Owen with 22 goals in his first full season at Anfield.

Against Spain in February 2001 Emile scored one of England's three goals in the friendly victory. In the World Cup qualifier against Germany in September 2001 he scored the final goal in England's 5-1 victory in Munich. Heskey lost his scoring touch during the 2001/02 season hitting 14 goals

He was selected for the 2002 World Cup squad and netted against Denmark as England reached the quarter-finals. By the start of the 2002/03 season, Heskey had played 129 games for the Reds, notching up 39 goals. He also started in all of Liverpool's famous five trophy wins

Emile Heskey