John O'Shea

[Reuben]

• Born: 30 April 1981, Waterford, Ireland
• Signed: 3 August 1998, trainee
• Other Previous Clubs: None
• Debut: 31 Oct 1999 v Aston Villa (A) League Cup
• International Team: Republic of Ireland


John signed professional terms with United in August 1998 and made his first team debut just over a year later, away to Aston Villa in a Worthington Cup defeat.
After making twenty appearances and scoring two goals for the Reserves over the 1998/99 and 1999/2000 seasons, John joined Second Division Bournemouth on loan in January 2000, where he earned rave reviews.

O'Shea returned to Old Trafford in March 2000, determined to break into the first team. Despite two more appearances in the Worthington Cup, away at Watford and Sunderland, it didn't quite happen for the big man, so instead he embarked on another loan spell in season 2000/01.

This time he followed in the footsteps of Luke Chadwick, Danny Higginbotham and Ronnie Wallwork by joining Royal Antwerp. Although he was first choice central defender for United's partner club in Belgium, he still found time to play international football for the Republic at Under-21 level.

The versatility which had glossed John's superb debut season served only to hamper his first-team claims in a difficult 2003/04 campaign for the big Irishman.

Without a specialist position to stake a claim for, O'Shea filled in gaps wherever he could, only to find himself sidelined as soon as injuries in others healed up.