Wes Brown

Wesley Michael Brown (born 13 October 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back or right back.

He spent the majority of his career at Manchester United, where he won 13 trophies including five Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions Leagues.

Brown began his career with Manchester United by joining the club's academy at the age of 12 in 1992.

After turning professional in 1996, he made his senior debut in 1998 and became a semi regular first team player during the 1998–99 season, when the club won the Treble.

Brown showed talent and maturity at an early age, signing full professional terms with boyhood club Manchester United on 4 November 1996 at the age of 17.

Brown went on to success with the reserve and youth sides, winning the FA Youth Cup and a Lancashire Division One medal with the reserves.

He also added two Jimmy Murphy (Young Player of the Year) awards to his collection, becoming only the second player to receive the award for a second time (the other being Ryan Giggs).

On 4 May 1998, Brown made his full first team FA Premier League debut against Leeds United, coming on as a substitute.

His breakthrough would occur the next year, the 1998–99 season, where he made several first-team appearances at right-back as well as his more natural position of centre-back.

United completed the treble that season, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League.

Brown earned his first England cap in 1999 and was selected to play at the 2002 World Cup.

Brown suffered the first of what would be a string of injuries while training for the 1999–2000 campaign.

As a result, he did not play a single competitive game all season, while United went on to seal their sixth Premier League title in eight seasons.

His strong comeback the following year prompted praise from all corners, with club manager Sir Alex Ferguson making waves by proclaiming Brown to be Manchester United's most talented defender.

After a year-long hiatus due to injury, Brown became a regular fixture in the first team from 2000 onwards.

Over the next eight years, he won numerous honours, including four more Premier League titles, an FA Cup, a League Cup and another Champions League.

Former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has stated that Brown is "without question the best natural defender this club has had for years".

A fine 2000–01 campaign was followed by another solid year in 2001–02.

His reputation grew even greater during the 2002–03 season, but again, his performances were marred by injury.

Brown tore a knee ligament on the final day of the season, and did not return until midway through the 2003–04 season.

Brown finished the season in good form, notably giving an imperious, man of the match-winning performance in the FA Cup semi-final win over Arsenal.

It was after this fine display that Ferguson re-iterated his confidence in Brown's abilities.

Brown was a member of the side that won the FA Cup that year, against Millwall at Cardiff, and later went on to collect runners-up medals in the 2005 and 2007 finals.

The signing of Nemanja Vidić in January 2006, who would go on to forge a highly successful partnership with Rio Ferdinand, along with Brown's continuing injury problems, meant the defender continued to struggle to hold down a place in United's starting line-up.

In the 2007–08 season, however, Brown established himself as the club's first-choice right-back.

After initially rejecting a new contract offer in December 2007, Brown signed a new five-year contract along with fellow defender Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Michael Carrick in April 2008, which was to keep him at Old Trafford until 2013.

He played in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers but England failed to progress to the final tournament.

He scored his first international goal in 2008 against the Czech Republic.

He ended the season by assisting Cristiano Ronaldo's goal in the 2008 Champions League final, which United eventually won on penalty kicks to complete a league and European double.

After nearly three years without scoring a Premier League goal for United, Brown scored on 23 March 2008 against Liverpool, the first in a 3–0 win.

On 4 October 2008, Brown scored only the fourth goal of his Manchester United career when he headed in Wayne Rooney's cross in United's 2–0 win away to Blackburn Rovers.

The goal was controversial, however, as Blackburn's players believed that Nemanja Vidić had impeded their goalkeeper, Jason Brown, allowing Brown to head in at the far post.

Brown was ruled out of first team action for around five weeks in November 2008, following an exploratory ankle operation.

Brown made his first start in eight months away against Hull City on 24 May 2009.

Brown started the following season, featuring throughout August in the league, but between September and October only appeared in United's League Cup campaign, before injury to both Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić saw Brown return to Premier League action as he partnered Jonny Evans in central defence against Blackburn, and both men produced an assured and professional display.

This was Brown's first Premier League start since the 2–1 victory against Arsenal, at the end of August.

Brown captained the League Cup game against Wolverhampton Wanderers in which they won 3–2.

Brown announced his retirement from international football on 8 August 2010, just a day after being recalled to the England squad by Fabio Capello.

Born in Longsight, Manchester, Brown began his football career as a schoolboy playing for the Burnage High School and Fletcher Moss Rangers, a Greater Manchester youth side, and was a former student of the Lilleshall Hall FA School of Excellence, as well as spending time at United's football Academy, which he joined at the age of 12.

After 15 years with Manchester United, Brown was allowed to leave for Sunderland, where he spent five years and helped them reach the 2014 League Cup final.