Curtis Davies

Curtis Eugene Davies (born 15 March 1985) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Cheltenham Town and the Sierra Leone national team.

Davies began his career at Luton Town, for whom he made his professional debut in 2003.

Davies made his professional debut for Luton in the second round of the Football League Trophy against Rushden & Diamonds in November 2003, and ended 2003–04 season having made seven first team appearances.

The next season Davies achieved his first promotion as he appeared in 44 league matches for the Hatters, scoring his first senior goal in the League One title-clinching win at Wrexham.

As well as winning Luton Town's Young Player of the Year award, Davies was named League One Player of the Year, and was selected alongside five Luton teammates in the League One PFA Team of the Year.

Davies moved to Premier League side West Bromwich Albion in 2005.

The next season Davies only managed six matches, and one goal in his final match, at home to Millwall, before he was signed by Premier League club West Bromwich Albion on 31 August 2005 for a fee of £3 million.

Davies made 35 starts and scored two goals in his first season with Albion, which ended with the club being relegated to the Championship.

In July 2006, he signed a new four-year contract, and was appointed captain on a permanent basis, having captained the team on several occasions during the previous season to become the club's second youngest captain of all time.

Nevertheless, he was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year for 2006–07.

On 21 June, Davies had a transfer request rejected by West Brom, and he resigned the captaincy.

The club were unwilling to allow him to leave unless their valuation was met, but Davies himself felt the asking price was too high for a player who had "been part of a relegated team".

On 30 August, Albion announced that they had given permission for Davies to speak to Aston Villa about a possible move.

He signed on loan for Aston Villa in 2007, making the move permanent in 2008.

He was sent off for the first time in February 2007 after receiving two yellow cards for challenges on Middlesbrough striker Mark Viduka.

A month later, he broke a metatarsal in Albion's match against Crystal Palace, an injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season and made him unavailable for selection for the first match at the new Wembley Stadium, an England under-21 international, for which he had been named in the squad.

On 31 August 2007, Davies signed for Aston Villa on loan for the season, with a view to a permanent transfer in the summer of 2008.

He made his Villa debut in a 1–0 League Cup defeat to Leicester City on 27 September, afterwards comparing his performance to that of a pub team player: "I was just awful. I didn't contribute anything. I've been bigging myself up, saying I'm ready and obviously I'm not. I'm not good enough to get in the team yet. I'm honest with myself in every performance and that was rubbish – I looked like a pub team player."

Davies made his Premier League debut with Villa in the 2–0 home victory against Derby County on 3 November, and scored on his first Premier League start, in a 2–1 away victory at Wigan Athletic in December.

He then became a regular in Villa's back four at the expense of Zat Knight.

On 1 March 2008, Davies suffered a ruptured achilles tendon against Arsenal and was expected to be out for at least six months.

Davies signed a four-year contract with Aston Villa to make the move permanent on 3 July 2008.

The fee was undisclosed, but was reported at between £8m and £11m.

Manager Martin O'Neill had said in April that he "[didn't] expect to see him back until October or November time", but Davies was fit to start Villa's UEFA Cup match against Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar on 14 August.

He captained Aston Villa for the first time on 6 November, in the 1–0 UEFA Cup win against Slavia Prague, with regular captain Martin Laursen on the substitutes' bench.

After injury problems forced him out of the side in 2009, Davies joined Leicester City on loan in 2010 and then transferred to Birmingham City in January 2011.

He scored his first goal of the season in January 2009, helping his team to a 2–1 win against his former club West Bromwich Albion.

Davies chose not to celebrate the goal out of respect for his former club.

Davies started the opening match of the season, a 2–0 defeat at home to Wigan Athletic described by The Guardian's reporter as showing "shambolic defending and failure to play with any cohesion", in which Davies "looked vulnerable every time Wigan attacked".

In contrast, a week later, Davies scored the second of Villa's three goals away to Liverpool with a header from a corner-kick in first-half stoppage time, in what BBC Sport's reporter called "an outstanding defensive display".

Davies' recurring shoulder problems required surgery in September.

During his absence, Villa brought in defenders James Collins from West Ham United and Richard Dunne from Manchester City.

He returned to action as a second-half substitute in the FA Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion on 23 January, replacing Stephen Warnock.

He signed for Hull City in 2013 and then moved to Derby County in 2017, before leaving in 2023.

Davies made three appearances for the England under-21s and was called up to the senior squad several times but never made a full international appearance, before declaring for Sierra Leone in 2023.

Davies started his football career with Wimbledon as a trainee but was released at the age of 16.

He wrote to every club in the local area, including Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall asking for a trial.

Colchester United responded first, two weeks before any other club, and a trial was offered; after a couple of trial matches he was released.

Luton Town were the next to offer him a trial.

During the trial, he scored two goals in three matches and was offered a scholarship.