Gylfi Sigurðsson

Gylfi Sigurðsson, 2012

Gylfi Þór Sigurðsson ( born September 8, 1989 in Reykjavík ) is an Icelandic football player.

Club career

Beginning of his career in England

Gylfi was shot in 2005 at the youth academy of English clubs Reading FC, having previously played in Iceland for FH Hafnarfjörður and Breiðablik Kópavogur. In 2007 he received his first pro contract and moved a year later on into the professional squad. His competitive debut for Reading he gave in August 2008 against Luton Town in the League Cup and was awarded after a further League Cup application in October 2008 for a month to the fourth division team Shrewsbury Town. He came to six appearances for Shrewsbury, in five of which he stood in the starting lineup and scored on his debut a hit in a 4-1 win over Bournemouth. An extension of the loan period was rejected by Reading and Gylfi returned in mid-November back to his tribe club for which he made his debut in January 2009 in the FA Cup. In February 2009, he was initially awarded for a month to the third division Crewe Alexandra, the rental period but was eventually extended until the end of the season. In Crewe, he established himself with impressive performances in the starting lineup and promptly scored three goals in 15 appearances, which the club but did not save in the Viertklassigkeit from relegation.

Already in the following season 2009/10 Gylfi rose to the most outstanding player of the second division FC Reading. He established himself already immediately after his league debut in late August 2009 in the team and acted mostly behind the strikers. In the course of the season, he scored a total of 22 goals, including 16 in the Football League Championship. In addition, he was responsible as a free-kick and penalty taker of the club and took over often the execution of corners. In the FA Cup 2009/10 he met first with the third- round victory against Liverpool at Anfield in injury time to equalize before the second division in the extension secured the victory. Then Gylfi scored in the fourth round against first division side Burnley goal for the 1-0 win and also hit in the extension of the Fifth Round Replay game by shot against West Bromwich Albion a 3-2 final score. Only in the quarter-finals failed Reading to 2-0 lead still with 2:4 at Aston Villa. In March 2010, Gylfi scored five goals in six games and was subsequently awarded " Player of the Month " of the Football League Championship, selected at the end of the season to the fans of FC Reading for " Player of the Season ". To kick off the season 2010/11 Gylfi confirmed his form from the previous season, scoring the first four matchdays two hits.

Move to Hoffenheim

Shortly before the end of the transfer deadline Gylfi changed on 31 August 2010 to the German Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The transfer represents, according to the Reading FC is a new record transfer proceeds in the club's history and was thus about £ 6.5 million, which was awarded the 2009 Association for Kevin Doyle. Hoffenheim manager Ernst Tanner called the sum "a little exaggerated," and spoke of six million euros as a transfer fee. At Hoffenheim, he signed a contract until the summer of 2014. During his second deployment on Matchday 4, he scored immediately after coming off the bench via direct free kick goal for the 2-2 draw against 1 FC Kaiserslautern. He was at this time only 28 seconds on the course. Also on matchday seventh against 1 FSV Mainz 05 Gylfi came off the bench and hit four minutes later a free kick for a goal back. On 10 Matchday he stood for the first time in the starting lineup of Hoffenheim, scoring the first two goals in a 4-0 home win against Hannover 96

Change to the UK

In early January 2012, he was League club Swansea City on loan at Premier, as he should garner more match practice after his injury in the summer, missed preparation. In England, he was voted player of the Premier League the month of March 2012. After good performances throughout the second half, the association, Sigurðsson firmly decided to commit. On 28 May 2012 Swansea City announced that with Hoffenheim and Sigurðsson an agreement for a permanent transfer had been achieved. With a named Swansea transfer fee of £ 6.8 million (about € 8.5 million) would have been the most expensive transfer in the club's history. The agreement was, however, denied the part of the TSG. As a result, Sigurðsson received from Hoffenheim extended holiday until June 30 to fix his transfer to the Premiere League. Finally Sigurðsson moved to the 2012/13 season not to Swansea, but to Tottenham Hotspur. About the peel modalities with Hoffenheim was not disclosed.

National

Gylfi heard regularly since 2005 in the squad Icelandic Junior Team selection. With the U-19, he reached the second round of the 2008 European Championship qualifiers, where you missed a second group behind Bulgaria finals appearance. In qualifying for the U-21 European Championship 2011, he was involved with two goals in the play-off second leg in October 2010 against Scotland crucial fact that the Icelandic U- 21 team for the first time qualified for a U- 21 European Championship final.

His debut in the Icelandic national team in May 2010, he was 20 years old in a 4-0 win in a friendly match against Andorra.

Awards

• Islands Footballer of the Year 2010, 2012 and 2013