Wes Morgan

Club

_Retired Soccer

Position

Defender

Nationality

Jamaica

Date of birth

1984-01-21

Birthplace

Nottingham, England

Height

6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)

Weight

92.52

Shirt number

5

Westley Nathan Morgan (born 21 January 1984) is a former professional footballer who made over 750 professional appearances as a defender for Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and the Jamaican national team, as well as a brief loan spell at Kidderminster Harriers.

He spent the majority of his career with his boyhood club, Nottingham Forest, playing 402 official games and scoring 14 goals. He was their longest-serving player when he transferred to Leicester City in January 2012. Morgan became Leicester's captain later that year, and has gone on to play nearly 200 matches in all competitions for them, captaining them to the Championship title in 2014 and the Premier League title two years later.

Born and brought up in England, Morgan chose to represent his ancestral Jamaica at international level, making his debut for them in 2013. He was part of their teams that competed in two Copa América tournaments and finished runners-up at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Morgan was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. Having been rejected by Nottingham Forest's near neighbours Notts County at the age of 15, and went to study business at South Notts College while playing semi-professionally in central midfield for Dunkirk F.C. in the Midland Football Alliance. His performances were tracked by non-league teams and Forest, who took him as an apprentice while he continued studying. There was no transfer fee, but Dunkirk received two Forest kits. Their clubhouse has his Forest and Leicester shirts on the wall.

In February 2003, with manager Paul Hart considering him close to a first-team breakthrough after his reserve performances, Morgan was loaned to Kidderminster Harriers of the Third Division. He made his professional debut on 1 March, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–3 loss to Scunthorpe United at Aggborough, deflecting a 25-yard Peter Beagrie shot for the first goal. Morgan totalled five appearances for the Worcestershire side, scoring his first goal two weeks after his debut, heading to confirm a 2–0 victory at Cambridge United.

Hart wanted Morgan to lose weight before joining the first team, which became a priority as the team had lost several players after losing in the last season's play-offs. He made his debut at left back on 12 August 2003 away to Port Vale at the age of 19; after a goalless draw Forest won a penalty shootout to advance to the second round of the League Cup. Four days later he made his First Division debut in a 3–0 loss to Reading