PLAYER PROFILE

Leon Osman

Position: Midfield

Height: 5'8

Weight: 10st 7lbs

Date of Birth: 1981-05-17 Billinge, England

Leon Osman

Leon Osman is rated as one of Everton's brightest prospects, which at a club that produced Wayne Rooney is a big compliment indeed. The talented midfielder broke into the first team squad in 2002/03 after a year out with a cruciate ligament injury.

In October 2002, he went out on loan to Carlisle United, where he was very impressive and scored three goals. When he returned to Everton, he was given his first team of the Barclaycard Premiership with two substitute appearances in 2003.

Much is expected of Osman in years to come and he would no doubt love to follow Rooney into the Everton first team and England squad. He made five appearances for the first team during the 2003/04 and sandwiched in between those few appearances was a four-month loan spell with Derby County.

With Rooney starting the 2004/05 campaign with an injury, Leon was called upon to help the first team out. He scored two goals in only his third game of the season, and certainly gave David Moyes something to smile about following Rooney's departure to United. This continued for the rest of the season as he clocked up 35 games and scored 7 goals all in all, including another two in a 3-1 win at Aston Villa.

He signed a new contract in June 2005 which would keep him at the club until for another 4 years and continued to thrive in 2005/06, scoring some important goals as Everton climbed away from danger in the second half of the season.

This fine form continued in 2006/07 as he scored three times in 34 games. He is now an important member of David Moyes' team.