Chris Gunter

At 34 years old, Chris Gunter has this physical status:

Christopher Ross Gunter (born 21 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a defender for Championship club Reading and the Wales national team.

An attacking full back, he is capable of playing on both flanks but usually plays on his preferred right side. He joined Cardiff City's youth system and was signed by Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for £4 million in January 2008.

Rarely used at Tottenham, he returned to the Championship with Nottingham Forest, initially on loan, before joining Reading in 2012. Gunter has been a Welsh international since under-17 level and holds the record as the second youngest debutant for the under-21 team.

He made his full international debut in 2007.

He was part of the Wales squad that reached the semi-finals at UEFA Euro 2016.

In 2017 he was named Welsh Footballer of the Year.

On 20 November 2018 Gunter surpassed the record of 92 caps held by Neville Southall, making him the most capped player for Wales.

Early life

Gunter was born in Newport to Gerald and Sarah Gunter. As a youngster, he attended Durham Road Junior School before moving on to St Julian's High School as a teenager. He and his brother Marc support Cardiff City, beginning to follow the club from the age of nine, and he continued to go to away games that did not clash with his own youth team fixtures on supporters' coaches until 2006. Gunter also holds a BTEC National Diploma in Sports Studies.

Personal life

Gunter was a former flatmate of fellow Welshman Aaron Ramsey who played for Arsenal, London rivals of Gunter's then team Tottenham Hotspur. Gunter was also best man for Ramsey at his wedding.

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Club career

Gunter started his career as a striker for local youth teams Durham Colts and Albion Rovers in Newport, but at a young age, he switched to playing full back and signed for the Cardiff City youth team at the age of eight. On August 1, 2006, he and fellow Cardiff academy graduate Darcy Blake agreed to work together in their first professional contract.

Gunter made his senior debut for Cardiff against Barnet in the League Cup first round on August 22, 2006, losing by 20 minutes at Ninian Park. He made his league debut in a 1–0 home loss to Queens Park Rangers on November 17, 2006. "Chris did the right stuff, let nobody down, and we will only get better," Gunter's boss Dave Jones said. Gunter will later refer to his second league appearance, a 4–1 loss to Hull City, as one of his lowest points in his career. However, he was able to keep his place in the squad despite facing Kevin McNaughton and Kerrea Gilbert.

After impressing in the first team squad due to injuries to several regular players, and during the summer of 2007, Gunter was the winner of two bids worth £500,000 and £1 million from Premier League team Everton. Both of them were, on the other hand, were turned down. He made sixteen appearances in all competitions during his debut and beating Graham Moore's 48-year old club record.

According to sources, Cardiff agreed a substantial fee with Tottenham Hotspur on December 21, 2007, allowing Gunter to begin negotiations with the club. Tottenham also said that the player's "value had "met their assessment of him," which had previously been announced at £4 million. On December 22, Gunter performed a medical at White Hart Lane with a intention of a £2 million move. The transfer window opened on December 24, 2008, and he joined the club on December 24th, and he joined the club on January 1st.

In an FA Cup third round match against Reading at the Madejski Stadium, Gunter made his Spurs debut on January 15th, winning by a 1–0 margin. He made his top-flight debut for Spurs, playing 62 minutes of a goalless draw at Everton before being replaced by Kevin-Prince Boateng. He made just one more league appearance this season, assisting Didier Zokora in the final 17 minutes of a 4–1 loss at Birmingham City on March 1st. He was tying for first place in the 2008 Football League Cup Finals.

In his second season, he did not progress to become a regular, appearing in only three league games but not in any of them for the full 90 minutes. On March 12, 2009, Gunter went on loan to Nottingham Forest for the remainder of the 2008–09 season.

Tottenham Hotspur accepted a £1.75 million bid from Nottingham Forest on July 17, 2009. Forest completed the signing of Gunter on a four-year deal on July 20th. In a 1–0 win over Plymouth Argyle on September 27, 2009, he scored his first goal for the club. It was also Gunter's first goal in senior football. Gunter made his 100th senior team appearance in the match between Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace on March 23, 2010. He was named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year in May 2010 for the 2009–10 season.

Referee Tony Bates had booked Gunter and Sanchez Watt for an on-field altercation, but the FA suspended him later that month after replays showed him stamping on the Leeds United player.

Gunter scored his first goal for the club on August 16, 2011, the only goal of a match at Doncaster Rovers, and he was a regular right-back during his time at Forest.

On July 17, 2012, Gunter completed his transfer to Reading, completing a three-year deal for the club that had been promoted to the Premier League. The fee was undisclosed, but it has since been reported that it was between £2.3 million and £2.5 million. In the League Cup's third round, He scored his first goal for Reading against Peterborough United. He appeared in 20 league games for the Royals before being recalled for the remainder of the season. Gunter was kicked off after Reading defeated 3–2 at his old club Forest on Friday.

Reading exercised the opportunity in Gunter's deal to extend his royals contract for another year on February 27, 2015. Reading defeated Colchester United after scoring the extra-time only goal on August 11th in the League Cup first round.

Gunter renewed his two-year contract on February 18, 2016 to keep him at Reading until the summer of 2018. On July 5, Gunter agreed a new three-year deal, retaining him at the club until the summer of 2020. The Football Association of Wales named Gunter as Welsh Footballer of the Year in October 2017.

Andy Yiadom's arrivals and manager José Manuel Gomes limited Gunter's first-team appearances limited in the 2018-19 season, the first time since the club's arrival that he suffered prolonged spells out of the team. He was limited to 22 league appearances this season due to a mix of these causes and injuries.

After Gomes' departure from Reading on October 9, 2019, Gunter and Garath McCleary were recalled to the first team. Both players had been drafted and informed that they would leave the club in the previous summer. In a 1–0 home loss to Leeds United, his first appearance of the season came in late November, his 500th appearance in club football, as well as his 225th league debut for Reading. Yiadom's injury played a huge role in Reading's 2–1 win over Fulham on January 1, 2020. After his service, Gunter was released in Reading in July 2020.

Gunter joined Charlton Athletic on a two-year contract on October 8, 2020. In a 2–2 draw against Plymouth Argyle on December 26, 2020, he scored his first goal for Charlton.

On May 10, 2022, it was announced that Gunter will leave Charlton Athletic after his deal came to an end.

On July 4, 2022, Gunter rejoined his former boss Johnnie Jackson by signing for AFC Wimbledon on a one-year contract.

International career

Gunter began his Wales career during the 2003-2004 season, making four appearances for the Schools' under-15 development squad before moving to the Welsh Schools under-16 squad and playing in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland, as a member of the Victory Shield internationals. He then made 11 appearances at Wales under the age of 17, including captaining the tue team, competing in two rounds of the UEFA Championships as Wales qualified from the beginning to qualify for the elite stage. In the Milk Cup, his next move was to represent the Wales U19 squad.

Gunter, the second youngest player to play for the Wales Under-21 team after Lewin Nyatanga when he played against Cyprus Under-21 in 2006.

Gunter was called up to the senior international team at the age of seventeen for a friendly match against New Zealand at the end of his first season of professional football, with Gunter describing himself as "completely staggered." In the match at the Racecourse Grounds, Wrexham, he made his Welsh debut in the match on May 26, 2007, where he was playing for the first half of a 2–2 draw. During 2010 World Cup qualifying, he was the only player in the squad to have played in all ten games.

In the 0–1 home loss against Bulgaria in a Euro 2012 qualifier match at the Cardiff City Stadium on October 8, 2010, Gunter received a straight red card in extra time for a professional foul against Dimitar Rangelov. He earned his 50th cap for Wales in the 1–1 away draw with Belgium in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying, he turned over his country in the 1–1 away draw with Belgium on October 15, 2013.

As they reached the semi-finals, Gunter was part of Wales' UEFA Euro 2016 23-man squad and played every minute of their six games. In 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying, he won his 75th cap after just 27 years in a 2–2 away draw against Austria on October 6, 2016.

On November 13, 2017, he captained Wales' friendly against Panama for the first time, breaking his former boss Gary Speed's record of 85 international caps for an outfield player. When Gunter played in a 6–0 victory over China at the 2018 China Cup on March 22, he tied the previous record for his own. In a 1–0 friendly loss away to Albania, in which he was captain for the second time, he tied Neville Southall's record of 92 caps for Wales. In the 1–0 friendly victory over Mexico on March 27, 2021, Gunter became the first Welsh player to reach 100 caps for Wales. In May 2021, he was selected for the Wales squad for the postponed UEFA Euro 2020 tournament.

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