The 37-year-old Emile Heskey is keen to end his impressive career on a high. The Premier League footballer signed with Bolton Wanderers football club in December 2014 on what was then a short-term contract. After having impressed the club on his debut against Blackburn by scoring the equalising goal and solidifying their 2-1 victory, Heskey’s overall performance since then has convinced the club that his contract is now worthy of an extension, having been announced publicly.
Appearing 16 times for the club over 6 months, Heskey’s investments have paid off in a permanent one year contract. After this initial period with the Wanderers, Neil Lennon was keen to keep Heskey on, saying: “Heskey is showing everyone how to play centre-forward and he’s 37. That is why he has been at the top for so long”. Lennon has good authority to judge Heskey’s abilities having previously played alongside him whilst the pair were at Leicester City.
Before joining Bolton, Heskey played for the Newcastle Jets in Australia’s A-League. There he had another successful 2 year stunt as their key player, scoring his first goal in less than of a month of being there. Overall, he scored 10 goals in 42 appearances for the club, making him a top scorer in the league, and resulted in him receiving a nomination for the Jets’ Player of the Year award.
Emile Heskey is a distinguished player with international status, having appearing more than 500 times in both the Football League and Premier League over an 18-year career span. Born in Leicester, he started his career playing for his home city’s club, Leicester City, making his first team debut in 1995 at the age of 17 after progressing quickly through their youth program. As a child, Hesky was a keen footballer and played for his local youth group team, the Ratby Groby Juniors football club.
Following the end of the 1994-1995 season, Leicester were relegated to the First Division, and Heskey signed his first professional contract with the club in October of 1995. He became a team regular, making over 30 appearances for the club and scored his first goal as a professional footballer against Norwich City to win the game.
After the team won the League cup in both 1997 and 2000, Heskey made an £11 million move to Liverpool, which at the time set a record transfer fee for the Merseyside club. Heskey made his Liverpool debut in a Premier League match against Sunderland in March of 2000, and scored his first goal during a match against Coventry City in April of that year, helping to secure a 3-0 Victory over the club.
Heskey finished his 1999-2000 season with 12 appearances and 3 goals for Liverpool and went on to scored 22 goals in the following season that helped the club to win the FA Cup, League cup and UEFA Cup Treble.
Heskey then went on to move to Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic (for a club record fee of £5.5 million in 2006) and finally to Aston Villa in 2009, before moving internationally for the Australian club Newcastle Jets following 2012.
Other than his immense success in the footballing world, Heskey has also turned his hand to philanthropy, as he supported the ‘Shoe Aid for Africa Campaign’ in 2009 alongside other members of the England team. His international status has allowed him to become one of the legendary football players still playing today.