Danny Higginbotham is a professional football player born on December 29, 1978 in Manchester, England.
He started his professional football career in 1997 as a trainee with Manchester United and featured in four games for it till 2000. During his tenure at Manchester United, he was sent on loan to Royal Antwerp for the 1998-1999 season and scored four goals from thirty six appearances.
In an effort to play regular first-team football, Danny Higginbotham signed to play for Derby County on a £2 million deal in July 2000. He made his debut for the club in a match against Southampton that ended in a draw and helped his club avoid relegation at the end of the 2000-2001 season. The following season, Danny Higginbotham won Derby’s Player of the Year award for his impressive performances for the club. This defender made eighty six appearances for Derby and scored three goals.
In January 2003, Danny Higginbotham made a move to Southampton on loan until the end of 2002-2003 season but went on to make the move permanent the following month for a transfer fee of £1.5 million. He made his first appearance for the club in a match against Blackburn Rovers and was also a part of the team that finished as the runners-up in the Football Association Challenge (FA) Cup finals that took place on May 17, 2003. He played ninety four games for the club, scoring four goals before making his move to Stoke City.
On August 3, 2006, Stoke City bought Danny Higginbotham for an initial fee of £225,000. He soon began featuring regularly in the starting line-up at centre-back, which is his preferred position, though he played in the left-back position as well in a few games. Danny Higginbotham was handed over the captaincy after its former captain Michael Duberry left Stoke City. During the 2006-2007 season at this club, he had made 45 appearances with seven goals to his credit.
Sunderland made a bid to buy Danny Higginbotham from Stoke City, and it was announced on August 28, 2007 that the offer had been accepted by the latter. The following day, he signed a four-year deal for a fee of £2.5 million, which would be raised up to £3 million depending on his appearances. Danny Higginbotham scored the opening goal for Sunderland in a match against arch-rivals Newcastle United on November 10, 2007 at the Stadium of Light. During his stint at Sunderland, he netted three goals from twenty one appearances.
On September 1, 2008, the season’s transfer deadline, Danny Higginbotham rejoined Stoke City for a transfer fee of £2.5 million and was given the jersey number 3.
Danny Higginbotham is pacy, skillful and a good reader of the game and is a versatile defender who can play anywhere across the back four.
