Henri Lansbury

Henri George Lansbury (born 12 October 1990) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Throughout his career, he played for Arsenal, where he ascended from the club's academy, in addition to spells with sides Scunthorpe United, Watford, Norwich City, Aston Villa FC, West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Luton Town.

In 1999, he joined Arsenal as a schoolboy from the books of Norwich City.

As such Lansbury featured as a regular for the club's academy sides.

He finally made his first-team debut on 31 October 2007, in Arsenal's 3–0 League Cup win over Sheffield United, when he was brought on to replace Theo Walcott in the 83rd minute.

Lansbury missed the second half of the 2007–08 season due to glandular fever but returned to fitness in time to participate in pre-season training and the 2008 pre-season friendly games.

He was described by former Arsenal striker Alan Smith as having "huge potential".

On 1 July 2008 he signed his first professional contract with Arsenal.

but was restricted to cup games at the club.

On 31 January 2009, Lansbury went on loan to Scunthorpe United in League One for a month.

He scored on his full debut against Swindon Town in the league, adding three further goals during his loan campaign.

Lansbury featured in the FA Youth Cup Final for Arsenal, helping them win the trophy over Liverpool, assisting Gilles Sunu on the first goal and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on the fourth goal in the first leg 4–1 victory.

On 21 August 2009, Lansbury joined Watford on loan until 31 December 2009.

He scored his first goals for them with a brace against Sheffield Wednesday on 23 October 2009.

On 31 December 2009, Lansbury signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.

After signing a new deal, manager Arsène Wenger said that Lansbury "will be a big player".

He achieved consecutive promotions to the Premier League in 2010–11 with Norwich and 2011–12 with West Ham.

Lansbury also played for England as a youth international.

Lansbury was born in Enfield, Greater London and grew up in Potters Bar.

He made his Premier League debut for Arsenal on 9 May 2010 against Fulham on the last day of the season, after returning from his loan spell at Watford.

Arsenal won the match 4–0.

His first goal for the club came against Tottenham Hotspur in the 3rd round of the League Cup, on 21 September 2010.

Lansbury played the full 90 minutes and 30 minutes extra time, as the Gunners ran out 4–1 winners against their bitter North London rivals.

It was a goal which he said was like a dream.

After impressing against Spurs, Lansbury went on to be named in the Arsenal squad for their UEFA Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk but did not make an appearance off the bench.

After a successful loan spell at Norwich City for much of the 2010–11 season, making 23 appearances and being involved in nine goals, he returned to his parent club.

On 22 November 2010, Lansbury joined Norwich City on a 28-day emergency loan deal to cover for injuries in the City squad.

He was given the number 12 shirt and made his debut in the East Anglian derby victory against Ipswich Town on 28 November, setting up a goal for Grant Holt in the process.

Lansbury sustained a hamstring injury in the 2–1 away victory over Coventry City.

After briefly returning to Arsenal in mid-January, he soon rejoined Norwich on loan until the end of the season.

He scored his first two goals for the club in consecutive home games against Millwall and Reading – the former being a stoppage time winner.

He became a cult hero after his goal against Leeds United when he celebrated by doing the Dougie made famous by the song Teach Me How to Dougie.

Lansbury missed out on the 2010–11 Football League Championship Young Player of the Year award after fierce competition from Connor Wickham who at the time was playing for Ipswich Town.

He made two substitute appearances for Arsenal at the beginning of the season before joining West Ham United at the end of August 2011 on a season long loan for rest of the 2011–12 season.

On 13 September 2011, Lansbury signed a contract extension, for an undisclosed period of time, with Arsenal.

On 31 August 2011, Lansbury joined West Ham United on a season-long loan from Arsenal.

He made his debut on 10 September 2011 in a 4–3 home win against Portsmouth scoring West Ham's second goal, eventually finishing with the Man of the Match accolade.

In October 2011, Lansbury was ruled out until Christmas with a knee injury.

On 21 February 2012, Lansbury was brought on to play in goal against Blackpool after Robert Green had been sent off for a professional foul with West Ham leading 2–1.

Manager Sam Allardyce had not named a goalkeeper amongst his substitutes.