Chris Gunter: 2011/2012 Biography & Statistics

Club career

Cardiff City

Born in Newport, Gunter started out as a striker when he played for Durham Colts and Albion Rovers but switched to full-back at a young age and signed for the Cardiff City youth side at the age of eight. He signed his first professional contract with the club on 1 August 2006 along with fellow Cardiff academy graduate Darcy Blake.

Primarily a right-sided defender, Gunter made his debut for Cardiff City on 22 August 2006 against Barnet in the League Cup.

In March 2007 he won the Football League's Apprentice of the Year award after impressing in the first team squad due to injuries to some regular players and during the summer of 2007, Gunter was the subject of two bids from Premier League club Everton. Both, however, were rejected.

Tottenham Hotspur

According to reports on the 21 December, Cardiff agreed a substantial fee with Tottenham Hotspur and therefore allowed Gunter to enter into talks with the club. Cardiff also stated that Tottenham had "met their valuation of the player" which had previously been reported at £4m. On 22 December, Gunter passed a medical at White Hart Lane with a view to a £2 million move. The move was made official on 24 December and he joined the club after the transfer window opened on 1 January 2008. Gunter made his debut for Spurs in an FA Cup 3rd Round Replay against Reading at the Madejski Stadium.

On 12 March 2009, Gunter moved on loan to Nottingham Forest for the rest of the 2008'09 season.

Nottingham Forest

On 17 July 2009 Tottenham Hotspur accepted a bid of £1.75 million from Nottingham Forest. Forest completed the signing of Gunter on 20 July on a four-year contract.

He scored his first goal for the club in a 1'0 victory over Plymouth Argyle on 27 September 2009. It was also Gunter's first goal in senior football. In the recent match between Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace on 23 March 2010, Gunter made his 100th senior club appearance. In May 2010 he was selected in the Championship PFA Team of the Year for the 2009'10 season. Gunter received a three match ban for violent conduct following an altercation with Sanchez Watt during Forest's league game against Leeds United. Gunter has been a regular member of the Forest team since joining the club, normally playing at right-back. Gunter scored his first goal of the 2011'12 season against Doncaster Rovers.

Reading

On 17th July 2012 Chris signed for Reading for £2.3m.

International career

Youth teams

Gunter started his Wales career during the 2003'04 season, making four appearances for the schools under-15 development squad before moving up to the Welsh Schools under-16 squad and played in a friendly against Republic of Ireland plus three Victory Shield internationals. He then made 11 appearances at Wales under-17 level during 2005'06, playing in two rounds of the UEFA Championships as Wales qualified from the opening group to reach the elite stage. His next step was playing for the Wales U19 squad in the Milk Cup.

At age 16 years and 299 days, Gunter was the youngest player to play for the Wales Under-21 team when he played against Cyprus Under-21 until former club mate Aaron Ramsey broke the record in August 2007. Senior team

He eventually made his full international debut for Wales in a friendly match against New Zealand on 26 May 2007 at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham; in doing so he became the youngest ever Cardiff City player to play for the senior Wales team. Gunter started as a left-back in a young and inexperienced Wales team in the teams' Euro 2008 qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland and Germany giving very impressive performances in the games which ended 2'2 and 0'0. He was ever present at right back during 2010 World Cup qualifying and is the only player in the squad to have played in all ten matches. He was called up for a November friendly against Scotland but withdrew due to illness. On 8 October 2010, Gunter was sent off in the 94th minute for a last-man foul against Dimitar Rangelov in the 0-1 home loss against Bulgaria in a Euro 2012 qualifying match.