Lewin Nyatanga

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Lewin Nyatanga
Personal information
Full name Lewin John Nyatanga
Date of birth August 18, 1988 (1988-08-18) (age 19)
Place of birth    Burton upon Trent, England
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Central defender
Club information
Current club Derby County
Number 30
Youth clubs
Derby County
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2005–
2006–2007
2007
2007–2008
2008		 Derby County
→ Sunderland (loan)
→ Barnsley (loan)
→ Barnsley (loan)
→ Barnsley (loan)		 33 (3)
11 (0)
10 (1)
25 (0)
16 (1)   
National team2
2005–
2006–		 Wales U21
Wales		 08 (0)
22 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 16:13, 11 May 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 18:12, 1 June 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Lewin John Nyatanga (born August 18, 1988 ) is an English born Welsh football defender who plays for Wales at full international level. He currently plays for Derby County.

Although born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, Nyatanga qualifies for Wales through parentage, having been born to a Zimbabwean father and Welsh mother. Attending Littleover Community School in Derby, his first team was Littleover Dazzlers, for whom he played as a youngster. Dazzlers teammates recall that Lewin was the kind of player who "wanted to take the corner and put the ball in the net."[citation needed] Having developed as a player through Derby County's academy, he signed professional forms for the club in August 2005. That month also saw him captain the Welsh Under-21 side prior to his seventeenth birthday, and make his Derby debut in a League Cup tie against Grimsby Town.

Since then Nyatanga has been a regular member of the Derby first team squad. On March 1, 2006, aged 17 years and 195 days, he made his full international debut for Wales in a friendly match against Paraguay in Cardiff, breaking Ryan Green's record as the youngest ever Welsh international. Despite his inexperience, with only 17 first team appearances for Derby behind him, he played "a key role"[citation needed] in the goalless draw. [1]

Wales' match against Trinidad and Tobago in May 2006 marked Nyatanga's second international appearance, and also saw his age record broken by 16 year old teammate Gareth Bale.

In 2006, Nyatanga won the Welsh Football Writers' Young Player of the Year award.

On 19 October 2006, Nyatanga moved on loan to Sunderland until January 2007. Whilst at Sunderland, Nyatanga played left back due to injuries to Stephen Wright and Clive Clarke leaving on loan. According to sources close to Roy Keane and Sunderland, the club were interested in signing Lewin Nyatanga in a £1.5m move in January. However, no bid was tabled by Roy Keane.

Nyatanga joined Barnsley on loan for three months in February 2007.[1] Nyantanga helped the club to some vital wins during his time at Barnsley, including a surprise 1-0 win over promotion hopefuls Birmingham City and a vital 3-1 win away to relegation rivals Southend United. Nyantanga was recalled to Derby on 16 April after injuries and suspensions, respectively to two key defenders in Michael Johnson and Darren Moore left the Rams short of cover in central defence. He also scored the winner against Luton Town on April 20, 2007 to send Derby back into the automatic promotion places and to relegate The Hatters.

Nyatanga returned to Barnsley on a six-month loan in the summer of 2007. He formed an impressive partnership with Dennis Souza at the heart of Barnsley's defence, but was recalled by Derby in January 2008. On January 19, 2008, Nyatanga scored on his Premier League debut for Derby at Portsmouth in the 4th minute, which gave Derby a 1-0 lead, but The Rams lost the game 3-1 after a Benjani hatrick.[2] He rejoined Barnsley on loan shortly afterwards and is expected to make the move permanent in the summer.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Barnsley sign defender Nyatanga", BBC Sport, 2007-02-13. Retrieved on 2007-04-22. 
  2. ^ Whyatt, Chris. "Portsmouth 3-1 Derby", BBC Sport, 2008-01-19. Retrieved on 2008-01-19. 

[edit] External links

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Derby County F.C. – current squad

1 Price • 3 Camara • 4 McEveley • 5 Leacock • 7 Jones • 8 Stubbs • 9 Villa • 11 Fagan • 15 Lewis • 16 Teale • 17 Todd • 19 Davis • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Feilhaber • 23 Moore • 24 Mears • 25 Pearson • 28 Barnes • 30 Nyatanga • 31 Carroll • 32 Addison • 33 Hanson • 34 Richards • 35 Beardsley • 41 Simmons • 43 Bywater • 44 Savage • –– Commons • –– Connolly • –– Davies • –– Ellington • –– Green • –– Stewart • –– Zadkovich • Manager: Jewell
Persondata
NAME Nyatanga, Lewin John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nyatanga, Lewin
SHORT DESCRIPTION Football (soccer) player
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1988
PLACE OF BIRTH Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH