Scott Carson

Scott Paul Carson (born 3 September 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Manchester City.

Carson joined the Leeds United academy in 2002, making his full first-team debut for Leeds against Manchester United in February 2004.

He joined the Leeds United football academy in July 2002 after impressing former Leeds defender Peter Hampton while playing for non-league Workington in the FA Youth Cup.

Two weeks later, he made his full debut, starting against Manchester United in a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford, and made one further appearance in the 2003–04 season against Chelsea in May 2004.

Carson made his first appearance for the England under-21 team in February 2004 and later set a record of 29 caps for the under-21 team.

He spent less than a year in the academy and half a season with the reserves before making his first-team debut in January 2004, coming on as a late substitute after Paul Robinson was sent off against Middlesbrough.

Robinson left Leeds in May 2004 and Leeds signed Scottish international goalkeeper Neil Sullivan two months later to compete with Carson for a first-team place, and to help Carson develop and improve.

Carson's contract was due to expire at the end of the 2004–05 season but Leeds were keen to retain him and in December 2004 offered him a new long-term contract.

Carson, who had played for five different clubs since making his debut for Leeds in 2004, explained that he wanted to get settled at one club, saying "I've been like a nomad for three or four years. It'll be good to get some roots and hopefully settle. I can see myself here for four or five years, even longer."

In January 2005, he moved to Liverpool for a £750,000 fee and was called up for the England senior team later that year.

He made nine appearances for Liverpool, including the UEFA Champions League quarter-final victory over Juventus in April 2005, before going on loan to Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton Athletic and Aston Villa in successive seasons to gain experience.

However, he chose to join Liverpool, who paid Leeds a £750,000 fee for him, in January 2005.

Carson joined Liverpool on a four-and-a-half-year contract and was to provide competition for Jerzy Dudek for a first-team place.

He made his first team debut for Liverpool in March 2005 in a defeat to Newcastle United, and made three consecutive appearances in April, including the home leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final victory over Juventus.

He was an unused substitute when Liverpool were victorious in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final and 2005 UEFA Super Cup.

Carson made only four appearances in the 2005–06 season, all in cup competitions, and in March 2006, was allowed to move to Sheffield Wednesday on loan.

Wednesday sought his services to help solve their goalkeeping crisis, while Carson was looking to gain more first team experience and to challenge for a place in the England 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.

He kept five clean sheets in nine appearances for Wednesday, whose assistant manager Kevin Summerfield hailed his contribution as a key factor in helping the club escape relegation.

He returned to Liverpool at the end of the season and in July 2006, extended his contract with Liverpool until 2011.

In August 2006, Carson joined Charlton Athletic on loan for the 2006–07 season, after Charlton failed in a bid for Norwich City goalkeeper Robert Green.

Carson explained that "Liverpool want me to get some experience and then hopefully I can go back next season and be challenging Pepe [Reina] for the number one spot. There were a couple of Championship clubs interested but I need to be playing Premiership football because Robert Green, Ben Foster and Chris Kirkland are going to be playing week in, week out so I need to be performing."

He played in 36 of 38 Premier League matches, missing only the two matches against Liverpool due to the terms of his loan deal.

Although he was unable to prevent Charlton from being relegated at the end of 2006–07, his outstanding form led him to be named as the Charlton Athletic Player of the Year, the first loan player ever to receive the award.

After his return to Liverpool from his loan spell at Aston Villa at the end of the 2007–08 season, he joined West Bromwich Albion for a £3.25 million fee in July 2008.

Following the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, Carson made his full debut for the England senior team against Austria in November 2007.

Carson was born in Whitehaven, Cumbria, and grew up in Cleator Moor, where he attended Ehenside School.

Although a promising rugby league player as a youth, he instead chose to concentrate on football, playing in goal for his school team from the age of "about 11 or 12".

He quickly rose through the youth teams at local team Cleator Moor Celtic to play for the men's team when he was 15.

Carson returned to Liverpool at the end of the season and in June 2007, Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez confirmed that he would be part of the first-team squad for the 2007–08 season, saying "He must fight with Pepe Reina now for a starting place."

Carson remained second choice to Reina, however, and faced further competition following the signing of Charles Itandje in August 2007; as a result, Carson was loaned out again, this time to Aston Villa at a cost to Villa of £2 million.

Benitez said of the deal, "We do not want to sell him, we are very happy with Scott. But he needs to play to keep up his England place."

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill preferred Carson to Thomas Sørensen and Stuart Taylor, and Carson played in all but three of Villa's 38 league matches, missing the two matches against Liverpool as he was ineligible to play, and kept 11 clean sheets during the 2007–08 season.

He received the first red card of his career when he fouled Carlos Tevez in Villa's 4–1 Premier League defeat to Manchester United.

Carson returned to Liverpool at the end of the 2007–08 season but in July 2008 joined West Bromwich Albion on a four-year contract for a £3.25 million fee, possibly rising to £3.75 million, with an option for the club to extend the contract by another year.

He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to Arsenal in the opening match of the 2008–09 Premier League season.

Despite relegation to the Championship, Carson kept his first team place and after the departure of captain Jonathan Greening he was given the captaincy.

In 2011, he moved to Bursaspor of Turkey.

After two years in Turkey, he moved back to England with Wigan Athletic, where he remained until 2015 when he signed for Derby County.

Carson joined reigning Premier League champions Manchester City on loan in August 2019 to provide cover for Ederson and Claudio Bravo.

He signed permanently for Manchester City in 2021.