Leon Osman is a professional footballer who can play as an attacking mid-fielder and also as a winger. He was born on May 17, 1981 in Billinge Higher End, Wigan, England, and grew up in Skelmersdale and later in Huyton. He did his schooling in Upholland High School before graduating from Winstanley College. Though being an English, Leon Osman is also eligible to play for the Turkish Cyprus national football team as his father is a citizen of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Popularly known as ”Ossie” in the football world, Leon Osman started his career from the Everton’s youth club in 1997 and helped the team win the 1998 Football Association (FA) Youth Cup. In 2000, he was promoted to the senior club and started playing for the reserve team, scoring a number of winning goals along with earning good reviews from Andy Holden, the team’s manager. In October 2002, Leon Osman was loaned out to Carlisle, and in his first season, he won the club’s Player of the Month award. In January 2003, he made a remarkable return to Everton by scoring a hat-trick in its 4-1 victory over the Manchester United’s reserve team. He was rewarded with a one-year contract extension in the summer of 2003. In January 2004, Leon Osman was loaned out to Derby County, and he played 17 games during his three months tenure with the club.
After returning from Derby Country, at the age of 23, Leon Osman got his first start against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and he scored in just 3 minutes after kick-off. During the 2004-05 season, he became a regular first team player, usually as a winger, and scored 7 goals, including a brace against Aston Villa. After signing a new four-year contract with the club in June 2005, Leon Osman scored 4 goals in 41 appearances during the 2005-06 season, including the late equalising goal against Millwall in the Football Association (FA) Cup. The next season he scored 3 goals in 37 appearances and saw his team secure the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup place. In the 2007-08 season, Leon Osman scored Everton’s first goal of the season against Wigan Athletic and added another in the second match against Totenham Hotspur.
On October 25, 2007, he scored Everton’s spectacular second goal in the 3-1 UEFA Cup Group Stage win over Larissa of Greece, for which he won the Club’s Goal of the Season award. On February 13, 2008, Leon Osman scored a goal against SK Brann Bergen, a Norwegian club, to got his side a 2-0 lead by the end of the 1st leg of the UEFA Cup’s round of 32.
