Leroy Lita

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Leroy Lita
Personal information
Full name Leroy Halirou Lita
Date of birth 28 December 1984 (1984-12-28) (age 23)
Place of birth    Kinshasa, Zaire
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current club Reading
Number 8
Youth clubs
1999–2001 Chelsea
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2002–2005
2005–
2008		 Bristol City
Reading
→ Charlton Athletic (loan)		 85 (31)
73 (19)
08 0(3)   
National team2
2005–2007 England U21 09 0(6)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 20:14, 11 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 11:19, 26 July 2007 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)


Leroy Halirou Lita (born 28 December 1984 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo[1]) is a professional footballer currently playing for Reading of the Championship. He is a former England U21 international.

Contents

[edit] Club career

Lita signed his first professional contract for Bristol City at the age of 18 at the start of the 2003-04 season, after being discovered by Bristol City scout Roger Barton.[2] It wasn't until Brian Tinnion took over from Danny Wilson as manager at the start of the 2004–05 season that Lita really established himself in the first team. That year he scored 29 goals in all competitions for club and one U21 international goal taking his tally to 30 for the season.

Lita moved to Reading (then in the Football League Championship) on 13 July 2005 for a then club record fee for Reading of £1m.[3] Lita's potential was confirmed when he hit a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion in the third round of the FA Cup on 17 January 2006.

Sadly, Lita's 2005-06 season ended early after a broken ankle, but Reading still won promotion to the Premier League that season.

Despite a promising start to life in the Premiership, in which he netted the winner against Middlesbrough on the opening day, Lita endured a barren run and lost his place in the Reading first team. He ended his drought by scoring against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, the first of ten goals in twelve games.[4]

On 30 August 2006, Lita was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm in Bristol on 27 August 2006[5], but on 18 September 2006 the complaint was withdrawn and police confirmed that no further action would be taken.[6]

On 13 April 2007, Lita was banned for three games for allegedly headbutting Talal El Karkouri of Charlton Athletic on 9 April 2007, a charge disputed by both the player and Reading's manager, Steve Coppell.

In a freak occurrence just prior to the start of the 2007–08 season, Lita was faced with a month of downtime after damaging a leg muscle as he, supposedly, stretched in bed upon waking.[7] Coppell told the BBC: "Leroy is in a great deal of pain. It's a point of laughter but a serious business for him because he's going to be out for three or four weeks." In the following weeks, his fellow team-mates continued to drop hints that the real reason for the injury was due to a far more strenuous exercise in the bedroom.

On 5 March 2008, Lita joined Charlton Athletic in a 28 day loan deal, after finding his first team opportunities limited at Reading during the 2007–08 season.[8] The loan was later extended to the end of the 2007–08 season,[9] but he was called back from the loan on 19 April 2008 for the last three games of the 2007–08 Premier League season.[10]

[edit] International career

[edit] England U21 breakthrough

Lita rejected the chance to play for DR Congo in favour of pursuing an international career with England, despite having previously stated he wished to represent the country of his birth.[11] He scored on his debut for England U21 with a goal against Holland U21 in a 2-1 loss on 8 February 2005, coming on as a second half substitute.[12] He had to wait over a year to make his second appearance, again as a substitute, in a 3-1 win over Norway on 28 February 2006.[13] Following excellent goal-scoring form in the Premier League, Lita was awarded with a further cap as a substitute in the 2-2 draw with Spain on 6 February 2007, scoring his second goal in three international appearances.[14]

[edit] 2007 European U21 Championship

Despite being 22, Lita was eligible to compete in the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship,[15] and was called up to the squad.[16]

In the first group game against the Czech Republic, England were awarded a penalty in the 88th minute which Lita subsequently dragged wide condemning England to a scoreless draw.[17] However he then scored for England in each of their next three games; a 2-2 draw against Italy, a 2-0 win over Serbia, and a 1-1 (13-12) penalty shoot-out loss to Holland in the semi-finals.

After the tournament he was named in the UEFA Dream Team for the tournament.[18]

[edit] Career statistics

All-Time Club Performance
Club Season Flag of England League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Reading

(Premier League)

 2007-08 14 1 2 0 2 1 0 0 18 2
2006-07 33 7 3 4 2 3 0 0 38 14
(Championship) 2005-06 26 11 3 3 3 1 0 0 32 15
Reading Total 73 19 8 7 7 5 0 0 88 31
Charlton (Loan) (Championship) 2007-08 8 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3
Charlton Total 8 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 3
Bristol City

(League One)

 2004-05 44 24 2 1 2 2 3 2 51 29
2003-04 26 5 2 0 1 0 2 0 31 5
2002-03 15 2 1 2 0 0 1 0 17 4
Bristol City Total 85 31 5 3 3 2 6 2 99 38
Career Total 166 53 13 10 10 7 6 2 195 72
Last updated 10 May 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Chelsea finishing school graduate has eyes on Premiership honours", The Daily Telegraph, 2005-10-01. Retrieved on 2006-08-23. 
  2. ^ "Lita the fighter", The Sunday Times, 2007-04-01. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. 
  3. ^ "Reading snap up £1m striker Lita", BBC Sport, 2005-07-14. Retrieved on 2008-01-31. 
  4. ^ Leroy Lita career stats. Soccerbase. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  5. ^ "Footballer arrested over attack", BBC News, 2006-08-30. Retrieved on 2006-08-30. 
  6. ^ "Complaint against player dropped", BBC News, 2006-09-18. Retrieved on 2006-09-18. 
  7. ^ "Lita sidelined after freak injury", BBC Sport, 2007-08-07. Retrieved on 2007-08-07. 
  8. ^ "Lita makes Charlton loan move", readingfc.co.uk, 2008-03-05. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  9. ^ "Lita extends loan with Charlton", BBC Sport, 2008-03-27. Retrieved on 2008-03-27. 
  10. ^ "Lita back after Charlton loan", readingfc.co.uk, 2008-04-21. Retrieved on 2008-04-21. 
  11. ^ "Lita seeks Simba stardom", BBC Sport, 2004-01-22. Retrieved on 2006-08-30. 
  12. ^ "England U21 1-2 Holland U21", BBC Sport, 2005-02-08. Retrieved on 2007-02-06. 
  13. ^ "England U21 3-1 Norway U21", BBC Sport, 2006-02-28. Retrieved on 2007-02-06. 
  14. ^ "England U21 2-2 Spain U21", BBC Sport, 2007-02-06. Retrieved on 2007-02-06. 
  15. ^ "Lita hoping for his first England start tonight as he looks to Euro championships", readingfc.co.uk, 2007-02-06. Retrieved on 2007-02-06. 
  16. ^ "FA names 30-man England U21 squad", BBC Sport, 2007-05-10. Retrieved on 2007-05-10. 
  17. ^ "Czech Rep U21 0-0 England U21", BBC Sport, 2007-06-11. Retrieved on 2007-06-12. 
  18. ^ "Lita gets award from UEFA", readingfc.co.uk, 2007-07-02. Retrieved on 2007-07-02. 

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Reading F.C. – current squad

1 Hahnemann • 2 Murty • 3 Shorey • 4 Cissé • 5 Sonko • 6 Gunnarsson • 7 Little • 8 Lita • 9 Doyle • 10 Hunt • 12 Kitson • 15 Harper • 16 Ingimarsson • 17 Convey • 18 Sodje • 19 Rosenior • 20 Faé • 22 Bikey • 24 Long • 25 Bennett • 26 Osano • 28 Matějovský • 29 Duberry • 30 Kébé • 32 Federici • 33 Golbourne • 34 Henry • 35 Pearce • 36 Andersen • 39 Church • 40 Karacan • 41 Hamer • 42 Bozanic • 43 Illugason • 44 Davies • Manager: Coppell
Persondata
NAME Lita, Leroy Halirou
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 28 December 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH