GABRIEL HEINZE

14. GABRIEL HEINZE

Gabriel Iván Heinze was born on April 19, 1978 and joined Manchester United for £6.9 m from Paris Saint Germain in June 2004.

Heinze was part of the gold medal winning Argentine team at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Heinze was part of another impressive defensive effort as Argentina strolled through the tournament without conceding a goal.

The player, who has a German father and an Italian mother, began his career in his homeland with Newell's Old Boys.

Somewhat bizarrely, Heinze is able to speak Welsh. He hails from Patagonia, an area where many Welsh people settled in the 19th century and as such the language is spoken to some degree.

He soon drew the attention of European scouts and in 1997 was snapped up by Spanish outfit Real Valladolid, and was then loaned to Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon for the 1998/99 campaign.

On his return to Spain he established himself as a star of the Valladolid side, building up a reputation as a powerful left-sided player with good aerial ability.

That led to a move to Paris Saint Germain in 2001, where he continued to impress. In 2003/04 he picked up a French Cup winners' medal and a Ligue 1 runners-up medal.

Heinze holds an Italian passport but opted to play for the nation of his birth, Argentina. Yet he was still an unknown back in Argentina - when he earned his fifth cap against Ecuador he had to be introduced to fans in the press back home.

His performances for PSG have earned him a place in Argentina's World Cup qualification squad. He has made seven international appearances and is part of the country's World Cup 2006 qualifying side. As the defender prepared for Argentina's World Cup qualifying matches in May he was linked with Manchester United. A couple of weeks later he signed a five-year contract at Old Trafford.

Heinze has built up a reputation as a powerful, no-nonsense defender. He is also renowned for his tenacity and leadership qualities and is dominant in the air. He arrives in England with a hard man reputation. One newspaper in France ran a poll to discover which player fans thought was the roughest defender in French football - Heinze was the unequivocal winner.

The signing of the Argentinian brought to an end a long search for a much needed new defender for Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United. His capacity to play in either a central or side role has proved invaluable throughout this season.

Heinze marked his debut for United with a goal in the 2-2 draw against Bolton Wanderers. He has since established himself as United's first choice left-back after a number of highly impressive performances.