Feyenoord Rotterdam (Holland), Coventry City (England), Aston
Villa (England), Middlesbrough (England)
Honours
2004 League Cup winner (Middlesbrough) 2000 FA Cup Finals (Aston Villa)
Biography
George Boateng (born May 5, 1975 in Nkawka, Ghana) is a Dutch
association football player. He is a central midfielder, who
currently plays for English Premiership football team
Middlesbrough.
After playing 70 games for Dutch giants Feyenoord Rotterdam,
Boateng completed a 0.25 million pound move to Coventry City in
1998. Under the management of Gordon Strachan he proved himself
to be a solid defensive midfielder helping Coventry finish
fifteenth in the Premier League. The next season he transferred
to Aston Villa for 4.5 million pounds. He proceeded to play 131
matches for Villa including an FA Cup final defeat against
Chelsea in 2000. George made his international debut for Holland
as a 47th-minute replacement for Phillip Cocu in a 1-1 draw with
England in Amsterdam in February 2002. The tough tackling
central midfielder then fell out with manager Graham Taylor in
the 2001-02 season. That summer he completed a 5 million pound
move to Middlesbrough.
Boateng made his full debut on the first day of the 2002-03
season away to Southampton. The uneventful game finished 0-0.
Occupying the defensive midfield position he has been the solid
platform upon which Middlesbrough have built their attack. He
recovered from a summer ankle operation in 2003 to be fit for
the start of 2003/04 season. That season he was part of the
Middlesbrough team which lifted the League Cup for the first
time. In the 2004-05 season he was injured for 8 weeks with a
broken toe. During this period he was sorely missed and
Middlesbrough dropped from fourth down to ninth in the league.
He did however recover in time to help Middlesbrough obtain the
results they needed for qualification for the UEFA Cup. In a
poll on the official Boro website fans voted him the player most
missed due to injury in the 2004-05 season.
