PLAYER PROFILE

Scott Parker

Position: Midfield

Height: 5'9

Weight: 11st 2lbs

Date of Birth: 1980-10-13 Lambeth, England

Scott Parker

An extremely talented young player who came up through the ranks of the Charlton youth system, Scott Parker is a natural midfield player who soon broke into the mainstay of the squad after making several substitute appearances.

He has an excellent touch, reads the game well, has great vision and fore-thought like and midfielder should. He is very confident on and with the ball and shows no fear against his opponents.

In 2001/02, the England Under 21 player was a regular for Charlton, making 43 appearances and scoring one goal, though he was sent off against Blackburn.

2002/03 proved to be a huge season for Parker, as he not only emerged as one of the best young English midfielders in the Barclaycard Premiership, but also earned his first international call-up. He delighted Addicks fans by signing a new contract in July 2003.

However, after many more impressive performances in 2003/04, including his debut for England in November's friendly with Denmark, Chelsea came calling for Parker in January 2004. While Charlton tried to resist, it was clear that the player wanted to go to Stamford Bridge, and eventually they gave in and his £10m dream move went ahead.

He went on to make 17 first team appearances and made his Champions League debut in the 0-0 draw with VfB Stuttgart. Parker made another substitute appearance for England although is still a fringe player.

However, the 2004/05 season proved less fruitful for Parker. Despite a strong start, a broken bone in his foot, suffered in the Champions's 4-0 home victory to Norwich City in late December, ended his season. He made only 11 starts and signed for Newcastle in the summer of 2005.

He managed to turn his bad luck around at St James' Park and returned in 2005/06 to make 31 appearances and score twice.

This great form continued in 2006/07 as he scored four goals in 36 appearances. However, when Sam Allardyce took over management duties at the club in the summer of 2007, Parker was judged to be surplus to requirements and signed for former boss Alan Curbishley in summer 2007 for a fee of £7million