Jonjo Shelvey

Jonjo Shelvey (born 27 February 1992) is an English footballer who plays for Liverpool as a midfielder and has represented England at U19 level, where he has captained the team. Previously he played for Charlton Athletic where he was the club's youngest ever first team player, appearing at the age of 16 years and 59 days. He made a £1.7m move to Liverpool in the summer of 2010.

Club Career

Charlton Athletic

2007/08

Born in Romford, Essex, Shelvey was in the youth setups of Manchester United and West Ham before moving on to Charlton. Shelvey made his breakthrough in the 2007–08 season after scoring 14 goals in 23 appearances for Charlton's Under 18s. He made a promising home debut against Coventry City. When making his first-team debut in April 2008 against Barnsley, he became Charlton's youngest ever player at the age of 16 years and 59 days, beating the previous holder Paul Konchesky, and, despite Charlton being beaten 3–0, Shelvey made a very encouraging debut.

2008/09

On 3 January 2009, Shelvey became Charlton's youngest-ever goal-scorer, with a strike against Norwich City in the FA Cup, 55 days before his 17th birthday, breaking the previous record held by Peter Reeves who was aged 17 years and 100 days when he scored – also against Norwich – in May 1966. Despite interest from several Premier League clubs, on the morning of 27 February, his 17th birthday, Shelvey signed his first professional contract with Charlton. On 9 September he signed a one-year contract extension until 2012. He scored his first league goal in the 3–2 win against Southampton on 4 April 2009.

Liverpool

Shelvey signed for Liverpool in April 2010, for an initial fee of £1.7m, rising to £3.4m on his Premier League debut. He made his debut for the club as an extra-time substitute on 22 September 2010 in the third round League Cup defeat against League Two side Northampton Town at Anfield, with Liverpool losing 4–2 on penalties (with Shelvey scoring in the shootout) after a 2–2 draw. Shelvey started his first game for the club in Liverpool's UEFA Europa League group game against Napoli on the 21st of October 2010, playing the whole 90 minutes match in a 0–0 draw. On 24 October 2010, Shelvey made his Premier League debut against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield, coming on in the 87th minute in the Reds' 2–1 win, On the 4th of November, he played the full 90 minutes in Liverpool's Europa League game against Napoli, a game which The Reds' won 3-1 courtesy of a 14-minute Steven Gerrard hat-trick. On the 7th of December, he made a substitiute appearance in a 2-0 win against Chelsea. He started Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Wigan 3 days later. On the 20th of November, Shelvey came on as a sub again, Liverpool running out 3-0 winners against West Ham. On the 2nd of December, he started Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Steaua Bucaresti in the Europa League. He also played against FC Utrecht in the same competition 13 days later.

International Career

Shelvey captained the England Under 16s to glory in the 2007 Victory Shield scoring three goals in three games. He also played a key role in the Montaigu Tournament, which England won for the first time in seven years, playing in all four games and scoring a free kick in the final against France. In October 2008 he made his debut for the England Under 17s and scored in a 7–0 win over Estonia.

On his debut for the England Under 19s, in September 2010, he captained and scored a free-kick in a 2-0 win over Slovakia. He followed this up with a second goal in his second appearance in a 6-1 victory over Albania on 8 October 2010 in the qualifiers for the 2011 European Under-19 Championships, and a third goal in his third appearance, this time in a 4-0 win against Cyprus on 10 October 2010.