PLAYER PROFILE

Robert Huth

Position: Defence

Height: 6'3

Weight: 13st 12lbs

Date of Birth: 1984-08-18 Berlin, Germany

Robert Huth

A young German defender, Huth made his first team debut at home to Aston Villa in Chelsea's last game of 2001/02. He came on as a substitute for Graeme Le Saux.

Huth is a former Chelsea trainee, and added a few more first team appearances in 2002/03, playing twice in the Barclaycard Premiership and UEFA Cup and once in the FA Cup against Stoke City.

The 2003/04 season saw Huth make 20 first team appearances, including a good run of games towards the end of the season. He was rewarded for some fine performances when he was called up to the Germany squad by new manager Jurgen Klinsmann in August 2004, for a friendly with Austria.

Huth continued to demonstrate fine form for both club and country in the 2004/05 season. Despite his young age, he has shown great strength, pace and a domineering prescence in his few fleeting performances for the Stamford Bridge club. He scored once, in Chelsea's Fourth Round FA Cup victory against Birmingham.

Despite rumours linking him to Bayern Munich and a clutch of other clubs at the back-end of the 2004/05 season, he stayed on in 05/06 and continued to struggle.

He finally left in August 2006, joining Gareth Southgate's Middlesbrough, with whom he struggled in his first season.

He will be hoping to gain more success in 2007/08.