Ched Evans

Ched Evans

Evans before a Wales under-21 game
Personal information
Full name	Chedwyn Michael Evans
Date of birth	28 December 1988 (1988-12-28)
Place of birth	St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Sheffield United
Number	9
Youth career
2000–2002	Chester City
2002–2007	Manchester City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2007–2009	Manchester City	16	(1)
2007–2008	→ Norwich City (loan)	28	(10)
2009–	Sheffield United	87	(25)
National team‡
2006–2007	Wales U19	4	(1)
2007–	Wales U21	13	(13)
2008–	Wales	13	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:00 21 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 07:34, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Chedwyn Michael "Ched" Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Wales international footballer currently playing as a striker for Sheffield United.

Born in St Asaph, Denbighshire Evans was an inexperienced youth striker with Manchester City, when he arrived at Norwich City on loan in 2007. He made a major impact during his time at Carrow Road, scoring 10 goals in 28 league appearances, before returning to his parent club. He was subsequently sold to Sheffield United for £3m in 2009. Evans scored on his début for Wales in 2008, and has so far scored twice in his 13 appearances.

Club career

Manchester City

Evans began his playing career in Rhyl and was spotted by highly respected football scout John Reardon. Evans spent several years scoring many goals in Chester City's youth set-up before it folded. He scored the winning goal in the Nathan Fennah Memorial game at the Deva Stadium in Chester City's U12s' 1–0 win against Wigan U12s. Evans played and starred for Moss Valley Rovers in many summer tournaments in the North West. Manchester City signed him, on Reardon's advice, in 2002 following the collapse of Chester City's youth system. Contrary to some reports, he was never at Manchester United's youth system on trial or otherwise.

Evans warming up before a Manchester City game in 2008

In the 2006–07 season, Evans scored 16 goals in 23 starts at Academy level, and a further six in 10 starts in the Premier Reserve League. He was also in the side that reached the final of the 2006 FA Youth Cup where they lost to Liverpool.

In September 2007, Evans came off the bench to make his senior début in City’s 1–0 Carling Cup victory against Norwich City. On 21 November, Evans moved to Norwich City on loan until 1 January 2008. He made his début for the Canaries the following week when he came on as a substitute in the 3–1 victory over Blackpool. His first goal for the club came just two minutes into his first start in the 2–1 victory over Plymouth Argyle on 4 December. Evans returned to Manchester City after 1 January when the loan deal expired.

Initially, Norwich manager Glenn Roeder's attempts to extend the loan were refused, however, on 10 January, the club announced that Evans would return to Norwich on loan until 26 February, with Manchester City initially able to recall him after 6 February, however, after talks between the two clubs at the end of January 2008, it was announced that Evans would be staying with the Carrow Road club until the end of the season. Then-manager Sven-Göran Eriksson stated he had no plans to sell Evans and that he would not be sold in the summer window. By the end of his loan spell, he had notched up 10 goals from 20 starts and eight substitute appearances — an impressive ratio in a struggling Norwich side.

Evans made his Premiership début for Manchester City on 18 August, on the opening game of the season, against Aston Villa. He wasn't chosen for the starting eleven, but replaced Valeri Bojinov, who suffered another long term injury during the pre-game warm-up. Evans scored his first Premier League goal for Manchester City against Portsmouth on 21 September, scoring the fifth goal as City went on to win 6–0. With City's acquisition of Craig Bellamy and later Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tévez, Evans left in order to get more first team football.

Sheffield United

Evans joined Sheffield United for a fee of £3m on a three year deal in July 2009 making his début for The Blades in the first game of the new season; a 0–0 draw with Middlesbrough Having bagged a brace for the Wales U21s during the midweek fixtures he then scored his first goal in Blades colours on his home début, a 2–0 win over Watford. Despite a promising start Evans struggled to maintain any real form and was often relegated to the role of substitute during his first season with the Blades, making 36 appearances but scoring only four goals. The following season Evans was a regular first team choice and his form and scoring rate began to improve, despite the club going through a season of turmoil and battling against relegation. He finished the campaign as top scorer with nine goals in all competitions but was unable to prevent the team dropping out of the division.

With The Blades now in League One there was much speculation that Evans would be sold to ease the clubs wage bill but an injury picked up in the last days of the previous campaign meant he was unavailable until early September, preventing him from moving on to another club. Having returned from injury Evans his a rich vein of form scoring regularly in both league and cup competitions as the Blades battled for promotion.

International career

Wales U21s

Evans gained his first Wales U21 cap in 2007. Since winning his first cap he has become a regular member of the squad and in November 2007 he scored a hat-trick against France U21s. In doing so he became only the fourth player to have scored a hat-trick for the under-21 side, along with John Hartson, Craig Davies and Lee Jones. Evans scored a brace against Bosnia and Herzegovina U21s in October 2009, taking his tally for the Welsh U21s to 13 goals in 12 games, further cementing his place as the side's top-scorer.

Wales

Evans made his senior début for Wales on 28 May 2008, scoring the winning goal (with a back heel) in a 1–0 victory against Iceland. He subsequently went on to be a regular in the Wales set-up.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition	Scored
1	28 May 2008	Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík	Iceland	0–1	Friendly match	1
2	11 October 2008	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Liechtenstein	2–0	2010 World Cup qualification	1

Personal Life

Ched Evans was born at St Asaph, Denbighshire in North Wales on 28 December 1988. After signing for Sheffield United, Evans moved to the near-by Barnsley area. After the death of former Wales boss and Sheffield United player, coach and Manager Gary Speed, Evans revealed a message under his shirt after scoring his first goal in the FA Cup win over Torquay United which read: "Rest in peace Speedo." Evans stated regarding the death of Gary Speed that "I was a man on a mission. I had a message on my top for Gary Speed which I wanted to show. I'm thankful I got the goal... The crowd started singing [Speed's name] - it gave me goose pimples... Not one person has a bad word to say about him, he was a gentleman... Even people who haven't met him know how much of a nice man he was... It still hasn't hit home, it still feels surreal."

Rape charge

On 30 May 2011,Ched Evans and former Manchester City player Javan Vidal were arrested over an alleged sex attack in his hometown of Rhyl. On 26 July 2011 Evans and another professional footballer, Clayton McDonald, were formally charged with rape. They both denied the charge and will face trial in April 2012. Evans and McDonald are banned from entering North Wales as part of their bail conditions, however Evans managed to get Caernarfon Crown Court to change the conditions of his bail so that he could visit his parents on Christmas Day under curfew from 9am GMT Christmas day till 10am GMT Boxing Day before returning to Sheffield for training.

Honours

Manchester City

• Vodacom Challenge Runner-up: 2009

External links

• Ched Evans career stats at Soccerbase
• Club profile at Sheffield United