Joe Ledley

Ledley was born in Cardiff, growing up in the Fairwater area. He attended Cantonian High School, where he was captain of the school football team. His schoolboy picture is displayed in the school to this day. He played several sports when he was younger, but only ever wanted to be a footballer. He grew up supporting Cardiff City and joined the club's youth system aged nine. During his later years as a trainee he was in charge of cleaning then captain Graham Kavanagh's boots. He continued to clean them for several months after breaking into the first team, this was to stop him from getting carried away with his new position.

Cardiff City

2004–05

Ledley was called into the first team during the 2004–05 season, while still only 17. He made his debut in the League Cup, on 21 September 2004, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in a 4–1 win over Milton Keynes Dons He made his league debut the next month, on 16 October, in a 2–0 win over Rotherham United, again coming on as a substitute. Three days later he had his first start for the club in a 1–1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, he had several chances to score during the match including a header that hit the woodwork. After the match, Cardiff's goalscorer, Lee Bullock said that Ledley had been brilliant in his first start; creating chances as well as having some himself. Manager Lennie Lawrence said that he thought Ledley hadn't been fazed at all by the occasion and didn't look like he was making his debut. Ledley's first goal for Cardiff came, on 2 November, in a 4–1 victory over West Ham. He brought the ball down from a cross before beating the keeper, Stephen Bywater, with a right foot drive. After this match Ledley's manager and teammates were again full of praise for the youngster. Striker Paul Parry said that Ledley's goal was brilliant and with the way he had been playing, creating so many chances for himself, it was no surprise that he had got his first goal. Manager Lawrence also said that he was impressed with other aspects of Ledley's play. He thought that Ledley had shown incredible maturity during the match,…

Ledley's first call-up to the Wales under-21 squad came midway through the 2004–05 season. At 17 he had begun to play in Cardiff City's first team and by the end of the season he had earned three under-21 caps, still only aged 18. His manager at Cardiff Lennie Lawrence said that he expected Ledley to be getting a full Wales call-up very shortly. In May, Wales manager John Toshack, when talking about the impact of captain Ryan Giggs retiring, said that he was hopeful for the future because Ledley along with other left-sided youngsters Gareth Bale and Lewin Nyatanga were all very talented players who could play for the national team for years to come. Ledley played at several youth levels for Wales as a youngster, eventually winning his first senior Wales cap in an away World Cup qualifying match against Poland on 7 September 2005. His first international goal came against San Marino in a Euro 2008 qualifier on 17 October 2007. In 2008 Ledley, along with a number of other full Wales internationals, was called back into the Wales U21 squad in a bid to help the team qualify for the U21 championships, only for a back injury to rule him out. On 29 May 2009, with a number of first team players missing from the side, Ledley was named as captain of Wales' youngest ever side for the 1–0 win over Estonia and Wales' 2010 World Cup qualifying match a week later against Azerbaijan in Baku. He won his 50th international cap on 16 November 2013 in a friendly against Finland, and was…

Ledley has been described as having a terrific engine. This is because of his high fitness level and work rate. He works equally hard in defence as attack and always looks to win the ball off the opposition, while he is also able to contribute goals to his team going forward. He is comfortable on the ball and is a decent passer. He is also a very physical player. Ledley has been criticised for not being a very quick player, some critics have suggested that several Premier League clubs who were interested in him may have been put off by his lack of pace. However, John Hartson has said that pace is not necessarily the most important thing, especially when Ledley is good in so many other aspects of the game. He has also said that he thinks Ledley would be able to play in the Premier League and compared his style of play to that of players like Xabi Alonso and Frank Lampard. At the start of Ledley's career he was generally played as a left winger. However, since the 2008–09 season, he has been used more in the centre.