PLAYER PROFILE

Ulises De la Cruz

Position: Defence

Height: 5'10

Weight: 11st 9lbs

Date of Birth: 1974-02-08 Piqulucho, Ecuador

Ulises De la Cruz

Ulises de la Cruz signed on the dotted line for Aston Villa on July 26, just a day after Graham Taylor distanced himself from reports surrounding his interest in the Ecuador international.

Nevertheless, Taylor obviously saw something he liked in the Hibs full-back because he was carefully wrapping up the details of his reported £1.5million move to Villa Park at the same time.

Ulises is an attacking right-sided player and although he often plays at right-back, Taylor envisages him as a right-winger.

By the end of his first season, the 2002/2003 season, Ulises had scored 2 goals in 24 appearances. The rumour mill had started to link the Ecaudorian with a move away from Villa Park. However he vowed to stay and see out his contract, hoping to fight his way into new manager David O'Leary's plans.

He did just that in 2003/04, taking advantage of Mark Delaney's injury to claim a regular first team place in the last few months of the season.

The 2004/05 season proved to be his most successful yet as he made 35 appearances for Villa, proving to be a vital asset for David O'Leary's inconsistent team.

His 2005/06 season, however, proved to be a mixed one. Although he helped his country to the second round of the 2006 World Cup, he did not appear regularly for Villa and left the club to join Reading in August 2006.

His experience came in handy for Reading in 2006/07 as he made 16 appearances all in all. He was therefore given a two year contract with the club and will hope to break into the first team on a regular basis in 2007/08.