Phil Jagielka

Phil Jagielka is an English centre back of Liverpool side Everton and the Three Lions. He was born in Sale, Greater Manchester and has a ‘Jags’ nickname.

Phil began his career in provincial football club Hale Barns United of Cheshire. By the way, he started to play as a midfielder then. Sheffield United scouts noticed Jagielka and invited him to their youth academy.

That was how Phil joined the youth team of ‘The Blades’ in 1998. The back made his way to the first team really quickly and his début came in the final match of the league against Swindon Town on 5 May 2000. The following day he was offered to sign a professional contract with the Sheffield side club and the footballer’s senior career eventually began.

In 2002/2003 the English player became a regular and the season was very fruitful for him, because he quickly developed his skills, took part almost in every match of ‘The Blades’ and turned into one of the pivots of the team. In the following season Phil was voted the Sheffield United Footballer of the Year.

Starting with that season, Jagielka drew the attention of different Premier League clubs and got a lot of offers, especially in the summer 2005. However, both Sheffield United’s management and the footballer himself rejected all those offers. Besides, Phil announced he was happy in Sheffield and was not going to move anywhere from that town. Then head coach of ‘The Blades’ Neil Warnock said his defender was not for sale.

After 2005/2006 Jagielka’s club gained the promotion to the English Premier League and the footballer extended his contract with Sheffield United for another three years in August 2006. In September the same year Phil scored the winner and helped his team in a 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough. That was the first victory of the club in 12 years (their last win in the Premier League was in 1994).

Several months later, on 30 December, the defender helped Sheffield to win again, this time in the home match against Arsenal, when main goalkeeper of ‘The Blades’ Paddy Kenny was injured in the 61st minute of the game and there were not any reserve goalkeepers as it turned out. That was Jagielka who took the place between the posts, showed a secure play in the last barrier of defense and made a wonderful save after Robin van Persie’s powerful shot at the end of the match. Phil’s team managed to secure a 1-0 victory (‘The Blades’ forward Christian Nadé made a goal in the first half).

However, the whole 2006/2007 season was not that good for the Sheffield side club, because they were relegated to the Championship and Jagielka left ‘The Blades’ despite being the fan’s favourite after eight consecutive years of performance for the team.

On 4 July 2007, the footballer was bought by Liverpool side Everton for £4 million (record transfer fee in the history of Sheffield United). Phil managed to become a solid regular during the first season in ‘The Toffees’ by making 49 appearances for the new team and finding the net two times. Two years later the defender was voted the Everton Player of the Year both by fans and by Everton footballers.

In 2009/2010 he rarely came on the pitch due to injuries, but in the following season he got his place in the main team back. In 2011/2012 Jagielka took part in 30 league games and banged in two goals. Besides, he made two appearances in national cups matches.

The back was capped for the England national youth team from 2002 till 2003 and made his start for the senior Three Lions squad in 2008. He took part in one of the 2010 World Cup qualifying matches, but failed to get to the 23-men roster for the tournament itself.

Phil played three Euro 2012 qualifying matches. On 28 May 2012, Jagielka was included in the national squad for the play-off stage, but he was first seen as a reserve player. The situation changed only after Gareth Barry’s injury. However, the defender did not take part in the tournament and his team was knocked out in the quarterfinals, losing to Italy in the series of aftermatch penalties.