Aaron Mooy

Aaron Frank Mooy (Kuhlman; ; born 15 September 1990) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder.

He is considered to be one of the greatest Australian midfielders of all time and one of Huddersfield Town's greatest players in recent decades.

Aaron Frank Mooy was born on 15 September 1990 in Sydney, Australia.

At birth, he was given the name Aaron Kuhlman, but his surname was changed by his Dutch mother after she divorced his father during Mooy's early childhood.

Mooy had minimal contact with his father, with their only meeting occurring when Mooy was a toddler, and briefly again at 14 during which his father signed forms for his Dutch passport.

During this time, Mooy met his brother Alex at a shopping centre whilst accompanied by his Wanderers teammates.

During his upbringing, Mooy developed an interest in watching Premier League matches, particularly favouring Manchester United.

David Beckham became his favourite player, and he would watch Beckham's games and practice free kicks, often pretending to be him.

One day, Mooy expressed his enjoyment of playing with friends to his mother, who promptly registered him with the Carlingford Redbacks, a club that his German stepfather, Alan Todd, would soon join to coach his team.

Mooy's early football journey included stints with various clubs such as the Carlingford Redbacks, Granville Magpies, Blacktown City, and Northern Spirit.

He enrolled at the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) at Sydney Olympic Park and attended Westfields Sports High School.

Mornings were dedicated to training, while afternoons were reserved for academic classes.

Following the path of many aspiring footballers, Mooy left his home country at the age of 15 to pursue his ambitions.

Mooy started his career in Europe as a youth scholar at Bolton Wanderers after being spotted by Chris Sulley.

Born in Sydney, Mooy made his professional debut with St Mirren in 2010 before returning to Australia with Western Sydney Wanderers, winning the A-League Premiers' title in their inaugural season.

He rejected a contract extension from Bolton in July 2010 in search of more first team football.

Mooy joined Scottish Premier League club St Mirren on 23 October 2010, and made his league debut for the Saints on the same day in a 3–0 loss to Hearts.

On 18 January 2011, he scored his first goal for the club, in the fourth-round replay, in a 6–1 win over Peterhead.

Having made 18 appearances and scoring once in all competitions, he was offered a new contract in April 2011 before agreeing a two-year contract with the club in May.

The 2011–12 season was marked by Mooy having suffered a stress fracture in his back.

As months went by, his recovery started going well.

Soon after, he went to a specialist to get over his injury.

On 17 December 2011, Mooy made his return, coming as a substitute, in a 1–1 draw against Motherwell and the next game, he scored his first league goal for the club against Rangers at St Mirren Park on Christmas Eve 2011.

On 20 June 2012, Mooy was released from St Mirren, expected to return back in Australia, and join an A-League club in West Sydney.

He departed the club, making a total of 30 appearances.

On 25 June 2012, Mooy signed with Western Sydney Wanderers, becoming one of the club's first signings for their inaugural season in the A-League.

The official media launch took place at Parramatta Stadium, where he was introduced alongside two players, Tarek Elrich and Kwabena Appiah, ahead of the 2012–13 A-League season.

Following the launch, Mooy would be joined with Mark Bridge, Michael Beauchamp and Shannon Cole prior to the club's first training session on 2 July.

Mooy made his unofficial debut at Cook Park, St Marys, in front of a crowd of 3,612, in the Wanderers' 5–0 debut win against Nepean on 26 July.

However, after inconsistent playing time, he left for Melbourne City and eventually joined Manchester City in 2016.

Mooy was immediately loaned to Huddersfield, achieving promotion to the Premier League for the first time in the club's history.

He signed a permanent deal the following season.

Mooy was voted PFA Footballer of the Year a record three times, consecutively, and was nominated for the 2017 Asian Footballer of the Year award.

He was named in the A-League Men Team of the Season twice, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year and EFL Team of the Season once.

He was voted and named in Australia's Team of the Century.

He played in two World Cups, the 2018 World Cup and 2022 World Cup, with his final appearance against Argentina before retiring in June 2023.

After spending two more seasons and being relegated, Mooy was loaned out to Brighton in August 2020 and signed a permanent deal in January 2021.

The same year, he then agreed a transfer deal to the Chinese Super League with Shanghai Port but was released due to the COVID outbreak.

He joined Celtic in July 2022, being a key part in their 8th treble, winning the Scottish Premiership, Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup before retiring in June 2023.

An Australian international, Mooy amassed a total of 57 caps and 7 goals during his time playing for Australia, mainly playing in the World Cup qualifying campaigns.