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Famous Like Me > Footballer > J > Matt Jansen

Profile of Matt Jansen on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Matt Jansen  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 20th October 1977
   
Place of Birth: Carlisle, England
   
Profession: Footballer
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Jansen celebrates Blackburn's League Cup final victory in 2002

Matt Jansen (born October 20, 1977 in Carlisle, England) is an English football player who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers as a forward.

A creative player, and a former England under-21 international, his career started at Carlisle United, where he scored 14 goals. He turned down the chance to join Manchester United before signing for Crystal Palace in 1998 for £2.5 million, where his impressive displays earnt him a move to Premier League side Blackburn Rovers for £4 million. He showed signs of things to come when he scored against Tottenham Hotspur on his debut in January 1999.

Blackburn were relegated to the First Division in Jansen's first season, but he was the star of the team which won promotion back to the Premier League in the 2000/01 season, finishing as the league's top scorer with 23 goals. He continued to impress in the following season, scoring the first goal in Blackburn's suprise 2-1 League Cup final victory against Tottenham Hotspur in 2002. His good form led to a surprise England call-up for the friendly game against Paraguay on April 17, 2002, however a stomach illness forced him to miss the game and consequently denied him the chance to claim a place in the World Cup 2002 squad.

A motorcycle accident in Rome, Italy during the summer of 2002 nearly killed Jansen and long-term hospitalisation followed (it is rumoured he spent four days in a coma). In the seasons after the accident he struggled to regain his place in the Blackburn side which led to him being loaned to Coventry City in 2003, where he scored 2 goals in 9 appearances. He made another attempt to force his way into the Blackburn team at the start of the 2004/05 season, scoring 2 goals in 8 appearances. However, it was felt that he had still not recovered mentally from the accident and was struggling to cope with the pressures of Premier League football. As a result, Blackburn decided it best for him take another break from football and sent him to visit a sports psychiatrist in America.

In May 2005 Jansen signed a 2 year 'pay as you play' contact with Blackburn, suggesting that the club was ready to give him one final chance to establish himself in the team after his injury, and he returned to action in a pre-season friendly against Morecambe in July 2005.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Matt Jansen