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; Hart considered him the man of the match. On 18 October, he scored his first goal for Forest, heading Eoin Jess' cross to finish a 6–0 win over bottom team Wimbledon at the City Ground. He totalled 32 games across the season, also scoring an equaliser on 3 December in the home game against Ipswich Town, and was sent off twice over the campaign.
On 30 January 2012, Morgan joined East Midland rivals Leicester City for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £1 million. As a result of his performances towards the end of the 2011–12 season, he was awarded with the Leicester City captaincy ahead of the 2012–13 season. His impressive performances early on earned him a nomination for Championship Player of the Month for September.
Leicester won the 2013–14 Football League Championship, in which he missed only one game. Afterwards, the club used a clause in his would-be expired contract to keep him for another season; he eventually signed a new three-year deal.
In the Premier League for the 2014–15 season, Morgan scored his first goal of the season in a 4–3 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on 21 March 2015, and another in 3–0 win over Newcastle on the 5 May. On 19 April 2015, Morgan was selected in the "The Football Manager Team of the Decade" at the Football League Awards.
Morgan kept his place for the 2015–16 season, playing in every minute of all 38 Premier League matches, one of only 4 players to achieve that accolade (including teammate Kasper Schmeichel) in that season. On 3 April 2016, he scored the only goal against Southampton, despite feeling ill. On 1 May, he equalised with a header in a 1–1 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford, and the next day Leicester won the title, with Morgan becoming the first Jamaican to win a Premier League medal. After captaining Leicester City to the title, Morgan was included in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year, alongside teammates Jamie Vardy, N'Golo Kanté and Riyad Mahrez.
Manager Claudio Ranieri said "Wes Morgan is Baloo off The Jungle Book. He is a big gentle bear who looks after all the lads. He does not speak so much but when he does speak, everybody listens. He is the perfect captain. I never knew anything about him before I came here. But I watched all the matches, I watched how solid, strong and intelligent he was".
On 1 September 2013, Morgan was called up to the Jamaican squad for the first time. He made his debut in a 0–0 draw against Panama at the Estadio Rommel Fernández in Panama City on 7 September 2013. Morgan captained the Reggae Boyz for the first time in the 3–1 defeat to Canada on 9 September 2014.
Morgan was part of the Jamaican squad invited to the 2015 Copa América in Chile. He played every minute of their campaign, in which they were eliminated in last place in their group. Weeks later, he was again an undisputed part of their team at the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States and Canada, helping them to a first final, which was lost 3–1 to Mexico at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Morgan has a child with the sister of fellow professional footballer, Leon Best.
He is a co-owner of Blue Ink, a tattoo studio in Leicester.
2002-2012 |
2012-2021 |
2019-2020 |
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