Michael Chopra
From Sunderland A.F.C. Wiki
| Michael Chopra | ||
| ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rocky Michael Chopra | |
| Date of birth | December 23 1983 | |
| Place of birth | Newcastle upon Tyne, England | |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Sunderland | |
| Number | 16 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1993-2000 | Newcastle United | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2000-2006 2003 2004 2004-2005 2006-2007 2007-2009 | Newcastle United → Watford (loan) Nottingham Forest (loan) → Barnsley (loan) Cardiff City Sunderland → Cardiff (loan) Cardiff City | 23 (1) 5 (5) 5 (0) 39 (17) 42 (22) 35 (8) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2002 | England U21 | 1 (1) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals | ||
Michael Chopra (born 23 December 1983 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is an English footballer currently playing for the Championship side Newcastle United. He joined Sunderland in July 2007 from Cardiff for £5 Million. His arrival at The Stadium of Light was highly controversial due to his Georide roots, but he became an instant hero when he scored a last minute winner against Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day. Three days later he scored a 20 yard half volley against Birmingham. Since then, the goals dried up for Chops, but this can partly be attributed to Roy Keane's tendency to play him on the right wing. His goal drought came to an end against Reading in December where he scored from the penalty spot, however it took until March for him to find the back of the net again. He did this with a superb finish at Aston Villa to give Sunderland a 1-0 win, their first away from the Stadium of Light that season and he went on to increase his season tally to 6 with goals against Middlesbrough and Fulham.
His first two goals of the 2008/2009 season came in a 2-0 victory against local rivals Middlesbrough F.C., however after that he found his chances limited and soon he found himself back to Cardiff on loan. He returned to sunderland though in the following January featuring little again. His final appearance came in a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United where he wasted an absolutely golden 1-1 chance throwing away sunderland's chances of winning the game, many of sunderland's fans turned against him after this and some accused him of deliberately bottling the chance because of his newcastle support and origins. The following day he was back at Cardiff a 3rd time, and he signed for them permenantly on the 1st July 2009 for a fee of £4 million.
