Clubs: West Ham United FC, Swindon Town FC (loan), Birmingham City FC (loan), Tottenham Hotspur FC, Manchester United FC

UEFA honours
UEFA Champions League: winner 2008, runner-up 2009, 2011

• Scouted by West Ham while playing in the north-east, he moved south and helped the Hammers win the FA Youth Cup in 1998/99; had spells on loan to Swindon and Birmingham before making his mark with West Ham in 2000/01 and becoming an England international at 19.

• Good form for Tottenham earned him a place in England's 2006 FIFA World Cup squad – he played one game in Germany, against Ecuador – and a big-money move to United.

• Won the Premier League in each of his first three seasons at Old Trafford and also claimed a UEFA Champions League winners' medal in 2008, scoring the second penalty in the shoot-out against Chelsea FC; also played all 90 minutes of the 2-0 defeat by FC Barcelona in Rome the following year.

• Scored a winning goal at home to VfL Wolfsburg in a 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group game and was required to play as an emergency centre-back in the return fixture in Germany due to an injury crisis in defence.

• Claimed his fourth Premier League title in 2010/11, a season in which he failed to score in any competition.