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Ledley, Joe
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Personal
Fullname: Joseph Christopher Ledley aka: Joe Ledley
Born:21 January 1987
Birthplace: Cardiff, Wales
Signed: 12 July 2010 (free transfer/out of contract from Cardiff City)
Left: [...]
Position: Central Midfield, Left Winger
Debut: SC Braga v Celtic, UCL, 28 July 2010
Squad No.: 16
Internationals: Wales
International Caps: 35 (as of Feb 2011)
International Goals: 3
Biog
Ledley joined his hometown team Cardiff City at the age of nine (having been a lifelong fan of the club) and made his way through the youth ranks at the club. During his later days as a trainee he was in charge of cleaning then captain Graham Kavanagh's boots (what an honour (sic!)). However, in time Kavanagh should have been cleaning Ledley's boots.Ledley broke into the Cardiff first team in the 2004-05 as a 17 year old and would quickly establish himself as a first team regular, never making less than 25 league appearances in a season since his breakthrough. In season 2006-07 he would feature in every single one of Cardiff's 46 league games.
Ledley has also played for Wales at U17, U19, U21 and full International level, including captaining the full international team on a stand-in basis.
His performances for Cardiff would soon bring him to the attention of Premiership teams with Cardiff turning down bids of up to £6M from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton, Stoke City, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic and Hull City. Cardiff City turned down bids even during the final season of his contract believing that due to his age they would be due compensation from any club who signed him under freedom on contract. Celtic would exploit a loophole in this legislation as once a player reaches the age of 24, this compensation is only due from clubs within the same association. Crucially. Celtic are not members of any of the footballing organisations Cardiff City are, and as such were able to sign him without paying compensation to Cardiff City. Celtic even delayed his signing until after the World Cup Final to ensure that Cardiff could have no avenue at all to claim compensation.
Arriving at Celtic, Joe Ledley would hit the ground running. Despite Celtic's disastrous start to the season in terms of qualification for the Champions League and Europa League (season 2010-11), which saw Ledley play out of position at left back, he was able to quickly establish himself as a key member of the Celtic midfield under manager Neil Lennon with initially a series of low key but highly effective performances on the left side of central midfield.
On 28 Dec 2011, Ledley played a blinder against the Huns in an important game that took Celtic to the top of the league. He scored the winner in a 1-0 victory in howling winds, a header from a corner to make himself a hero. His overall play in the game was outstanding and was increasingly a favourite of the support and a mainstay of the first team.
Playing Career
| CLUB | FROM | TO | FEE | LEAGUE | FA CUP | LGE CUP | OTHER | ||||
| APPS | GOALS | APPS | GOALS | APPS | GOALS | APPS | GOALS | ||||
| CELTIC | 12 July 2010 | Present | Free | ||||||||
| CARDIFF | 1 September 2004 | 12 July 2010 | Trainee | 225 | 26 | 14 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
Honours with Celtic
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KDS
Articles
Celtic confirm signing of Joe Ledley from Cardiff City
Celtic have confirmed Wales midfielder Joe Ledley has signed a four-year contract with the Scottish Premier League club.
By Tim Hart Published: 11:52AM BST 12 Jul 2010
Manager Neil Lennon and his squad flew out of Glasgow this morning to London. Ledley met them at Heathrow for their flight to Philadelphia.
It has been widely thought for a week that Ledley would join Celtic since the Wales international turned down the chance to move to the Premier League with Stoke City.
"Celtic is a massive club. I'm looking forward to the season and working with Neil and his coaching staff," Ledley said.
"I want to come here and win trophies. This is a great club and I'm looking forward to playing in front of a Celtic's great fans every week.
"This is the right time to leave Cardiff and look at my career.
"Hopefully we can win the league and cups and it gives me the opportunity to play in Europe too."
Cardiff insist they are due compensation for the out-of-contract Ledley, however Celtic will not owe the Bluebirds anything.
Cardiff would have expected upwards of £2 million compensation if he had signed for another team in the English leagues but Fifa's cross-border transfer rules mean he is able to move to Celtic for free.
Cardiff will still try and get some sort of compensation but had Ledley joined Stoke the Bluebirds would have been looking at a seven figure sum.
It is believed Celtic delayed confirmation of his signing until after the World Cup final to ensure the Welsh club were unable to claim so-called training compensation, due if a player aged under 24 leaves a club during the season.
Ledley's contract ended on June 30, but Celtic chose to wait a couple more weeks just to be safe.
The former Cardiff captain could make his debut for Celtic against Philadelphia on Thursday and should figure heavily in Lennon's plans for the new season.
"We really are delighted to welcome Joe to Celtic," Lennon said.
"Clearly, there were a number of clubs very interested in signing him so we are very pleased he has chosen to come to Celtic, somewhere I think he can be a tremendous success."
"I want to come here and win trophies. This is a great club and I'm looking forward to playing in front of a Celtic's great fans every week.
"This is the right time to leave Cardiff and look at my career.
"Hopefully we can win the league and cups and it gives me the opportunity to play in Europe too."
Cardiff insist they are due compensation for the out-of-contract Ledley, however Celtic will not owe the Bluebirds anything.
Cardiff would have expected upwards of £2 million compensation if he had signed for another team in the English leagues but Fifa's cross-border transfer rules mean he is able to move to Celtic for free.
Cardiff will still try and get some sort of compensation but had Ledley joined Stoke the Bluebirds would have been looking at a seven figure sum.
It is believed Celtic delayed confirmation of his signing until after the World Cup final to ensure the Welsh club were unable to claim so-called training compensation, due if a player aged under 24 leaves a club during the season.
Ledley's contract ended on June 30, but Celtic chose to wait a couple more weeks just to be safe.
The former Cardiff captain could make his debut for Celtic against Philadelphia on Thursday and should figure heavily in Lennon's plans for the new season.
"We really are delighted to welcome Joe to Celtic," Lennon said.
"Clearly, there were a number of clubs very interested in signing him so we are very pleased he has chosen to come to Celtic, somewhere I think he can be a tremendous success."
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Latest page update: made by fitzpas
, Mar 31 2013, 1:25 PM EDT
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