Name: Jordan Rhodes
Date of Birth: 5th February 1990
Position: Striker
Club: Huddersfield
Previous Clubs: Barnsley, Ipswich, Oxford(loan), Rochdale(loan), Brentford(loan)
Striker is already at his sixth club but, at the tender age of twenty, is one of the hottest properties outside the Premier League after a superb season.
Rhodes left Barnsley as a 15-year-old, joining Ipswich Town for £5,000, where his Dad Andy was player/goalkeeper coach, and netted an amazing 70 goals in just two years for Town's youth and reserve sides, including 40 for the U16's, U18's and reserves in his first twelve months at Portman Road. That prompted his promotion to the first team squad, at the age of 16, and he sat on the bench alongside his Dad for Ipswich in a proud and historic day for the Rhodes household.
Rhodes international career had suffered a false start when he was pulled out of an England U17 squad with a minor injury and he then missed a lot of the 2006/7 season due to a string of injuries, including being knocked unconcious and a dislocated shoulder. He bounced back in 2007/8 and after a spell out on loan at Conference side Oxford, where netted twice in six games, he made his Ipswich first team debut as a sub against Burnley before netting his first league goal against Cardiff in April 2008.
The 2008/9 season saw him loaned out to gain more league experience and, after a couple of sub appearances for Ipswich early in the season, he joined Rochdale. Rhodes made five appearances for the League Two side, netting twice before returning to Portman Road. Another loan in the New Year saw the hitman join Brentford and he scored an impressive seven goals in fourteen games during the second half of the season. He was awarded the PFA Fans League Two Player of the Year Award for this season and the fans at Ipswich were licking their lips at the prospect of Rhodes rejoining them for this season.
It wasn't enough to keep him at Portman Road though and he left in the summer to join League One Huddersfield where his career went into overdrive. He came on as a sub for his debut and immediately scored an equaliser before scoring twice on his home debut three days later. He played a total of 48 times for Huddersfield in 2009/10 and scored 23 goals to attract the attentions of top flight scouts as he and highly rated keeper Alex Smithies continue to make the Town chairman see big pound signs.
He holds the record for fastest hat trick of headers when, on 10th October 2009, he nodded in three times in eight minutes to beat a record previously held by Dixie Dean for nearly eighty years.