Rhys Weston

Arsenal

Weston played for Arsenal as a youth player, joining the club at the age of eleven after being spotted representing Surrey at county level, before he made his senior debut in the League Cup against Middlesbrough on 30 November 1999, Arsène Wenger bringing him on at half-time to replace Oleh Luzhnyi. Also making his debut for Arsenal that day was Ashley Cole. His first start came on 14 May 2000 at St James' Park, he was taken off for fellow youngster Brian McGovern after 67 minutes – Newcastle United finished 4–2 winners. It was the final league game of the season and neither side had anything to play for other than pride. Arsenal were resting their key players ahead of the UEFA Cup final against Galatasaray three days later. It was to be his only top flight appearance in English football. His first and only senior game at Highbury came on 1 November 2000, in a 2–1 defeat to Ipswich Town in the League Cup third round. He was taken off to give Lee Canoville his debut after 74 minutes.

Cardiff City

After being told by Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger that he was unlikely to make the grade at Premier League level, Weston signed for Cardiff City for a fee of £300,000 in November 2000. The Welsh club, who play in the English football league system, were then in the basement division and had promotion ambitions following financial investment from chairman Sam Hammam, who was looking to sign young Welsh players for the first-team. Weston made his Ninian Park…

Born in England, Weston represented the country at schoolboy and under-16 levels. He also qualified to play for Wales due to his father hailing from Caerphilly in South Wales. In May 2000, he was called up to the Welsh senior squad for the first time prior to a match against Brazil, remaining on the bench as Wales suffered a 3–0 defeat. His first senior cap came ten days later against Portugal on 2 June 2000, with Wales recording another 3–0 loss. He was a late substitute for Gareth Roberts. Weston then went into an under-21 side that fared poorly in the qualifying round of the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The Welsh team drew one and lost nine, Weston played in four of these games. On 1 September, he played in a 4–1 defeat to Belarus. On 6 October he played in a 2–0 defeat to Norway, four days later he played in a 2–1 defeat to Poland. On 23 March 2001, he was part of a Wales side that lost 1–0 to Armenia. Following the defeat, he was one of four players, including Cardiff teammates Lee Kendall and Kevin Aherne-Evans, who returned to the squad hotel late after being allowed to go out for a drink. All four were sent home early from the squad. Having been reprimanded by Wales manager Mark Hughes, Weston was excluded from Welsh senior and youth squads for one year, eventually returning to the senior squad in March 2002. His next call-up for the senior team was for a friendly with Croatia on 21 August 2002. He was a 60th-minute substitute for Darren Barnard, the…

Club

A. ^The "Other" column constitutes appearances (including substitutions) and goals in either the Football League Trophy, Football League play-offs, Scottish Challenge Cup or UEFA Champions League.

International

Weston was born in Kingston Hospital in Kingston upon Thames, London, to David and Wendy Weston and has two sisters, Katie and Carli. He moved away from home at the age of 14 to attend school in Lilleshall at the Football Association's centre of excellence. He was also a keen rugby player. However, he was forced to give up the game to focus on his football career.