Peter Withe

Hughes can play Centre back, right back or left back, he is also able to play anywhere in midfield. He is usually employed in a right back or full back role for his club and country.

He came through the Newcastle United ranks to become a regular in the Newcastle starting eleven, he made his first team debut in the Nou Camp in a match between Newcastle United and F.C Barcelona on November 26, 1997. His league debut came against Sheffield Wednesday F.C. later in the same season. His first team appearances after this were few and far between, yet he had established himself in the team by the 1999/2000 season. On May 20, 2005 Hughes was sold to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa for a fee of ?1.5m.

On April 17, 2002 he was awarded the captaincy of his country on his 24th cap against Spain in Belfast. He has been a regular captain for the Northern Irish team ever since.

He made his debut on April 21, 2003 against Newcastle United, a second-half substitution for Gareth Barry, and made an immediate impact, seeing a powerful shot pushed over the bar by Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given, which earned plaudits from his team-mates.

Part of the F.A. Youth Cup winning side of 2002, Whittingham signed a professional contract in October 2002, due to expire in 2006. He made 32 appearances in his first full season at the club, season 2003/4, scoring his first goal against Wycombe Wanderers F.C. in the League Cup on September 23, 2003.

His form inspired coach David O'Leary to sign him until 2007.

In somewhat of a battle to sign the former Nantes star, a fee of 1.7 million pounds was agreed on his sale on August 6, 2004, after counter-offers from clubs such as RCD Espanyol, Besiktas and Galatasaray. He signed for a four-year contract at Aston Villa.

His first league match at Aston Villa was made as a substitute for Peter Whittingham on December 18, 2004.

His first team were the Ecuadorian Liga Deportivo Universitaria, for whom he started playing in the 1999/2000 season. On June 18, 2001, he moved to Hibernian F.C. for a fee of 700,000 pounds, for whom he made 25 full league appearances, as well as 7 substitute appearances, scoring two goals. He struggled to make the grade at Hibernian but had a good World Cup in Japan 2002 and was picked up by Graham Taylor after he did television work at the 2002 World Cup, an instant signing when Taylor came back to Villa, and Hibernian came back from a tour of Finland.

A struggler in his first season at the club, he flourished in the 2003/04 season after David O'Leary took over, and an injury to Mark Delaney ensured that de la Cruz could start more games than he had previously. New contract talks succeeded for the 2004/05 campaign.

Prior to joining Aston Villa in January 2005, he played fo FC Nantes, then spent 18 months at Manchester United. Djemba-Djemba was a part of the Cameroon team at the 2002 World Cup.

Taylor had been at Arsenal since joining the club in 1997 as a youth player, though he was loaned out several times ? to Bristol Rovers (September 23-October 23, 1999), Crystal Palace (August 9-October 1, 2000), Peterborough United (February 15-March 15, 2001) and Leicester City (November 18, 2004-January 23, 2005).

He played only 30 times in eight years for Arsenal's first team, as he was often the club's second or third-choice 'keeper. However, this included ten League appearances in Arsenal's 2001-02 Premiership-winning season, thus qualifying him for a winner's medal.

His career started in Per?, first for Municipal (1993), and then Sporting Cristal (1994-97); with this club he achieved a triple championship (1994-1996) and reached the finals of the 1997's Copa Libertadores, before leaving for Boca Juniors (1997-98), and then to England, where he played for Newcastle United from August 1998 having scored five league goals in Argentina. His debut for Newcastle came in a match against Chelsea on August 22, after 67 minutes of play, as a substitute for goalscorer Andreas Andersson.

In June 2001, he signed a new contract which would mean he could keep his place at the club for five years. Nevertheless, when Sir Bobby Robson showed his displeasure at Solano's loyalty to his country, he was sold in the "January window" of 2004 to Aston Villa. He had been an extremely popular...

He was signed from Sunderland in 2003, who in turn signed him from Everton in 1998.

Hendrie made his Aston Villa debut as a substitute in a 1-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on December 23, 1995 and achieved the accolade of the team's "Young Player of the Season" award for season 1997-8.

Hendrie achieved his first international cap on November 18, 1998 against the Czech Republic, almost scoring a goal on his international debut.

However, his progress started to slow, and a number of red cards from 2000 halted his impressive form, until 2003.

In 2003, the arrival of new boss David O'Leary gave Hendrie a new chance to prove himself, and to this day is recovering the form which he had at the peak of his career.

An ex-England under-18 captain, he joined Aston Villa as a trainee in 1997, and played his first match for the team on May 2, 1998 against Arsenal. Though spending most of his time as a defender, he has also been touted as a possible midfield star of the future. He continued to push through the ranks, and made his England under-21 against the Czech Republic in 1998.

After an injury to Jason Wilcox, he was able to travel to Euro 2000, but did not feature in any of the side's games. His full international debut was in the 1-1 draw against France in September 2000.

However, after falling out of favour with Aston Villa boss John Gregory, he requested a transfer and soon entered the reserve team. It was only after Gregory's exit from the club that Barry excelled, under the aegis of Graham Taylor. He continued to perform well into the 2002/03 season, in an otherwise uninspiring season for his team.

It...