Michael's first club he played for was Mold Alexandra. He started playing for the under10's at the age of 7. He scored 34 goals in his first season. He then went on to Deeside Primary School and started to play for the district under 11's where in two seasons Michael smashed Ian Rush'a record by scoring 97 goals. By the time he was 11 years old loads of top clubs wanted to sign him up for training, he ended up choosing Liverpool FC. When he was 14 he was selected to join the FA school of Excellence at Lilleshall when he was 16 with 10 GCSE's and signed YTS for Liverpool earning 42 pounds 50 a week. During Michael's youth team football he scored a brilliant 11 goals in 5 matches. Liverpool won the FA Youth Cup in that 1996 season. In October 1996 at the age of 16 Michael played his first match for the England under 18's against Northern Ireland in which Michael scored all 4 goals to lead England to a 4-0 victory. In December 1996 Michael signed a proffesional contract with Liverpool. He was given the no. 18 shirt. At the end of the 96-97 season Michael made his league debut for Liverpool against Wimbled at Selhurst Park in May 1997. The 1997-98 season was a brilliant season for Michael. He got off to a good start by scoring a goal/penalty in the opening day of the season. Michael scored a total of 18 goals in this season and was joint top scorer. He also set up 13 goals. Four months after making his Liverpool debut Michael played his first game of European Football against Celtic in Glasgow. Michael scored in the 6th minute. .

England Career


Michael made his debut for England against Chile in February 98. This made him the youngest player to play for Engalnd this century at the age of 18 years 56 days During the 5 matches following the the Chile game and the last 5 before the World Cup Michael played 4 of the games. In the fourth game Michael scored for England for the first time against Morrocco, making him the youngest player to score for England. He also got knocked out by the goalkeeper in this game but carried on playing the match.

World Cup


Michael was chosen as the youngest player to represent England in the World Cup. He did not start the first 2 games against Tunisia and Romania but came on as a sub in both. He scored his first goal in the world cup against Romania but England were still beaten in this game. Michael got his first start in the next match against Columbia where England won 2-0. England then had to face Argentina in the second round. Michael scored one of the best goals of the tournament in this game and got England a penalty against Argentina. He also converts a penalty at the penalty shoot out. Even though England didn't win Michael still played BRILLIANTLY!