John Carew
Born in 1979, John Carew is a Norweigan footballer of Gambian descent, he was born and raised in Norway. Carew has played for no less than 7 clubs, including Valarenga, Roma, Lyon, and Valencia. He was part of the famous 2001 Valencia side that lost to Real Madrid on penalties, though he did convert his spot kick.
Carew joined Aston Villa on January 22nd 2007, in a straight swap for Milan Baros who went to Lyon. Carew went to take the number 10 jersey which was vacated by Baros on his departure. Making his debut against Newcastle, Carew had a goal disallowed and Villa went on to lose the match 3-1 despite having the majority of the play. He scored his first goal in Villa colours against West Ham at Villa Park and has gone on to become a cult hero with the Villa faithful.
The 2007/08 season did not start very well for Carew, it took him 2 months to score his first goal against Everton in a 2-1 win, however following his 6 week absence he became more influential scoring important goals against Blackburn, Middlesboro, and Manchester City. He scored his first ever hattrick in 7 years, and his first in Villa colours against Newcastle during a 4-1 win against the 'Toon army.
Carew has played over 70 games for his native Norway scoring 21 goals in the process. He made his debut in 1998 and was the first ever black player to represent Norway at senior level. During the Euro 2008 qualifing campaign Carew scored 4 goals, but Norway did not qualify finishing a point behind Turkey who would go on to the semi-finals.
| Season | Games Played | Goals Scored | Goals to Game Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06/07 | 11 | 3 | 27.27% |
| 07/08 | 32 | 13 | 40.62% |