Sander Westerveld

From Free net encyclopedia

Sander Westerveld (born October 23, 1974) is a Dutch soccer player born in Enschede, the Netherlands. His position is goalkeeper and he currently employed by Portsmouth F.C.. He is currently on loan to Everton.

1 Career information
2 Clubs
3 Honours
4 External links

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Career information

His first professional match was for the Enschede club FC Twente in 1994. After two seasons at Enschede he moved to Vitesse Arnhem where in the course of three seasons, he developed into a goalkeeper of national stature.

Following the 1998/1999 season, he earned himself a transfer to Liverpool, where he succeeded David James. In the two seasons he was with the Liverpool club, he was often subjected to criticism from the media. After a major mistake in a game against Bolton Wanderers in 2001 he was put on the bench by then-manager Gerard Houllier, who promptly signed two new goalkeepers - the Polish international Jerzy Dudek (who became a Champions League-winning hero) and the injury-prone but impressive Englishman Chris Kirkland. Westerveld was then sold despite being part of a team that had won three trophies the previous season. A move abroad saw a successful spell with Spanish side Real Sociedad culminating in Champions League participation.

In July 2005 he moved back to England, being signed by Alain Perrin at Portsmouth where he was to be first choice ahead of Jamie Ashdown and Greek keeper Konstantinos Chalkias. In February 2006 he was allowed to move on a short term loan to Everton F.C., rivals of his former club Liverpool, because of a goalkeeping crisis which saw Nigel Martyn, Richard Wright and Iain Turner all unavailable.

Westerveld's talents are obvious, though. He is a solid keeper with decent reflexes, he is impressive in the way he comes out of the goalmouth and he has a sound kicking technique.

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