Carl Cort

Wimbledon

Cort, born in London of Guyanese descent, began his career with Wimbledon as a teenager. He went on a one-month loan to Lincoln City in February 1997, and when he came back to the Dons he made his debut as a substitute against Aston Villa on 9 April 1997. He had to wait until the start of the next season to make his second appearance; on 13 September 1997 Cort started away against Newcastle United and scored in the first minute as Wimbledon went on to win 3–1. Three days later he scored twice against Millwall in the League Cup. A place in the England under-21s soon followed. Another highlight at Wimbledon was scoring a hat trick against Sunderland in the League Cup in October 1999.

Newcastle United

Newcastle boss Bobby Robson paid £7 million to sign Cort on a five-year contract in the summer of 2000, seeing off competition from Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City. After making his debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford, he scored on his Newcastle home debut, against Derby County, but struggled with hamstring problems and underwent surgery after only a few appearances for his new club. He did eventually return to the first team in March 2001, and went on to score five goals in ten appearances before the season ended. In the 2001–02 season, injury ruined his season again. Cort was ruled out until March due to injuries to his ankle and knee. He travelled to the United States for specialist treatment and was treated by the same surgeon who…

Club

He is the elder brother of fellow professional footballer Leon Cort, and the younger brother of non-League footballer Wayne Cort. He is also the half-brother of AC Milan midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek.