Leroy Lita

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Leroy Lita
Personal information
Date of birth	December 28, 1984 (age 22)
Place of birth	Kinshasa, DR Congo
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Reading
Number	8
Youth clubs
1999-2001	Chelsea
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002-2005 2005-	Bristol City Reading	85 (31) 54 (18)
National team2
2005-	England U21	04 0(2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:56, 25 March 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 12:56, 25 March 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Leroy Lita (born 28 December 1984 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo^[1]) is an English U21 international footballer, currently playing for Reading in the English Premier League.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Club career

Lita moved to Reading (then in the Football League Championship) on 13 July 2005 for a club record fee of £1m from Bristol City, where he had been the League One club's top scorer. Bristol City fans were disappointed to lose a player of Leroy's ability, but understood his desire to move to the Championship was strong, and were aware that they could lose him for a fee decided by tribunal as his contract had only a year to run. Lita's potential was confirmed when he hit a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion in the 3rd round of the FA Cup on 17 January 2006.

Sadly, Lita's 2005-06 season ended early after a broken ankle, but Reading still won promotion to the Premier League that season.

Lita's career took a huge upturn at the start of 2007, where he managed 9 goals in 9 matches, scoring some vital goals to propel Reading to a European place.

On 30 August 2006, Lita was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm in Bristol on 27 August 2006^[2], but on 18 September 2006 the complaint was withdrawn and police confirmed that no further action would be taken^[3].

[edit] International

Lita rejected the chance to play for DR Congo in favour of pursuing an international career with England, despite having previously stated he wished to represent the country of his birth.^[4] He scored on his debut for England U21s with a goal against the Netherlands in a 2-1 loss on 8 February 2005, coming on as a second half substitute.^[5] He had to wait over a year to make his second appearance, again as a substitute, in a 3-1 win over Norway on 28 February 2006.^[6] Following excellent goal-scoring form in the Premier League, Lita was awarded with a further cap as a subsitute in the 2-2 draw with Spain on 6 February 2007, scoring his second goal in three international appearances.^[7]

Despite now being 22, Lita is eligible to compete in the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in the summer of 2007.^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Leroy Lita profile at readingfc.co.uk
• Leroy Lita career stats at Soccerbase
• Photo and stats at sporting-heroes.net

Reading F.C. - Current Squad
1 Hahnemann | 2 Murty | 3 Shorey | 4 Sidwell | 5 Sonko | 6 Gunnarsson | 7 Little | 8 Lita | 9 Doyle | 10 Hunt | 11 Oster | 12 Kitson | 14 Halls | 15 Harper | 16 Ingimarsson | 17 Convey | 19 Seol | 22 Bikey | 23 de la Cruz | 24 Long | 25 Bennett | 27 Brown | 28 Halford | 29 Duberry | 32 Federici | 47 Máté | –– Andersen | –– Bozanic | Manager: Coppell

Persondata
NAME	Lita, Leroy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	28 December 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH