Chris Gunter

Christopher Ross "Chris" Gunter (born 21 July 1989 in Newport), is a Welsh people football (soccer), currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and the Wales national football team. In 2007 he became the youngest Cardiff City F.C. player ever to play for the full Welsh team.

Club career

Cardiff City

Gunter started life as a Striker when he played for Durham Colts and Albion Rovers but switched to Defender (association football) at a young age and signed for the Cardiff City F.C. 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 F.C. on the 22 August 2006 against Barnet F.C. in the Football League Cup.

In March 2007 he won the 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 Premiership club Everton F.C.. Both, however, were rejected.

Tottenham Hotspur

According to reports on the 21 December, Cardiff City F.C. agreed a substantial fee with Tottenham Hotspur F.C. 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 £3 million move. The move was made official on 24 December and he joined the club after the transfer window opened on 1 January 2008.
Chris made his debut for Spurs in an FA Cup 3rd Round Replay against Reading F.C. at the Madejski Stadium.

International career

He started his Wales career in 2003-2004, 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 national under-17 football team level during 2005-2006, 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 national under-19 football team squad in the Milk Cup.

Gunter became the second youngest player to play for the Wales national under-21 football team team when he played against Cyprus national under-21 football team at the age of 16 years and 299 days.

He eventually made his full international debut for Wales in a friendly match against New Zealand national football team 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 national football team and Germany national football team giving very impressive performances in the games which ended 2-2 and 0-0.

Club stats

As of 16 May, 2008

Personal life

As a youngster he attended Durham Road Junior School before moving on to St. Julian's, Newport as a teenager. He also followed Cardiff City F.C., along with his brother Marc, as a supporter and continued to go to away games on supporters coaches up until 2006.
He is currently sharing an apartment with his Welsh team mate and fellow Spurs player Gareth Bale in London.

Gunter also holds a BTEC National Diploma in sports Studies.