Greg Cunningham

At 33 years old, Greg Cunningham has this physical status:

Gregory Richard Cunningham (born 31 January 1991) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a left back for club Blackburn Rovers, on loan from Cardiff City, and the Republic of Ireland national team.

Source

Club career

Cunningham, a native of Galway, County Galway, began his football career with Cregmore FC. He joined Mervue United in 2004 before earning a job in the Manchester City Academy. In a 4–2 victory over Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup on January 24, 2010, Cunningham made his first team debut for Manchester City as a 46th minute replacement.

In the final minutes of the game, Cunningham made his first Premier League appearance against Birmingham City as a replacement for Adam Johnson. On May 9, 2010, he was a replacement for Johnson in his second Premier League appearance against West Ham United as a replacement for Johnson but only for two minutes of the game. Cunningham won by 2–0 on his first European debut in Europa League Qualifiers Second Leg against Politehnica Timișoara on August 26, 2010. In a 2–1 loss against West Bromwich Albion in the League Cup on September 22, he made his first appearance for the club and played 90 minutes.

Cunningham joined Leicester City on loan until January 2011. In a 2–0 loss to Swansea City on October 23, 2010, he made his debut for the club against Swansea City, where he played the full 90 minutes. He made 12 starts in the starting eleven and was a regular left-back. Cunningham fractured his tibia in a battle with Liam Rosenior of Hull City on January 1, 2011. Rosenior was sent off, and Cunningham was forced to be recalled in a 1–0 victory over Leicester, and he was barred from action for up to four months, which ended his loan period with Leicester City. Sven-Göran Eriksson said his injury was "a complete mistake" after the match, and added, "It's a total disaster."

Cunningham joined Nottingham Forest on loan until December 31. The club's injury crisis left them very short on defensive options, which left them on borrowed until 31 December. Since his move to Nottingham Forest, he said he wanted to make a difference for the team and was looking forward to playing regularly for Nottingham Forest's Duo Lee Camp and Ishmael Miller, who agreed with Cunningham's aspirations. Cunningham made his debut for the club against Hull City on October 29, 2011 before being suspended early in the second half. He played 90 minutes in a 1–0 victory over Reading on November 1, 2011. Since making his debut in the starting eleven, he became a regular, albeit at left-back.

Cunningham's loan was extended until the end of the season on December 29th. Since being loaned, manager Steve Cotterill said he would want to sign Cunningham on a permanent basis, but only if the money can be found in the near future. After his loan spell came to an end, Cotterill lauded Cunningham (among the loan agreement) for assisting the club in escaping from the relegation zone and into the Championship next season.

Cunningham told BBC Sport that he planned to leave Manchester City to further his career in the coming season. He began a four-year contract at Bristol City in exchange for an undisclosed fee on July 5, 2012.

In a 1–0 loss to Nottingham Forest, Cunningham made his debut on the first game of the season. In a 2–1 win over Peterborough United on September 18, Barnett received a tough tackle from him after Barnett made a mistakenly play on Cunningham, resulting in Barnett being stretchered off and Barnett being jailed. Derek McInnes said after the match that Barnett should have been banned from playing for two months after rupturing his tendon. He recovered from the injury and returned from his action against Derby County on December 15, 2012. He scored his first goal for Bristol City against Watford on January 29, 2013. He had looped over Manuel Almunia and found its way into the back of the net. Cunningham's first team position was retained after his return from injury, but the club was relegated to League One.

Cunningham was a member of the squad that secured promotion back to the Championship in 2015.

After turning down an undisclosed bid, Bristol City gave Cunningham permission to speak to Preston North End. He spent the weekend with Preston in Scotland at a training camp before the 2015 contract was completed on July 27.

Cunningham's established left-back under Simon Grayson, who scored four goals, including a late winner at former Bristol City in January 2016.

Cunningham was elected captain of Preston on July 24, 2017, but it wasn't until Tom Clarke recovered that he was fit again.

Preston continued to impress as he became a well-known Championship player, and as such, Cunningham began to pique the interest of other Championship and Premiership sides.

Cunningham left Cardiff City on June 13, 2018, for an undisclosed fee that was expected to be around £4 million over a three-year deal, with Preston unable to find the consistency to mount a sustained challenge on the playoffs.

However, since signing Cunningham, the club has only played seven times, it has been relegated from the Premier League.

Despite being promoted to the Championship, Cunningham was still unable to break into the Cardiff starting XI and so, on August 8, 2019 Cunningham joined Blackburn Rovers on loan until the end of the season. He suffered a critical knee ligament injury in October that kept him out for the remainder of the season. He continued with Blackburn until January, when his loan arrangement was terminated due to his injury.

Cunningham returned to Preston North End on loan for the remainder of the 2020-21 season on January 28, 2021. Preston also announced that he had signed a long-term contract until the end of the season on January 6, 2021, so Preston will be able to fit all of their loan signings into their matchday squad. Cunningham signed a new deal on April 26th, 2021, and the club will remain in existence until the summer of 2023, despite being out of contract at the end of the 2020–21 season.

International career

Cunningham had been captained by the Republic of Ireland at youth level before being called up by head Giovanni Trattoni to the senior international team on February 22nd, 2010 for a friendly against Brazil. He made his RDS debut on May 28th, defeating Algeria 3–0.

Source