Matthew Upson currently wears the West Ham number 15 shirt after giving in his number 6 shirt in the memory of West Ham and England legend Bobby Moore. At the age of 29 Matty has been at West Ham since a January move in 2007 but was injured almost straight away at an away trip to Villa.
Matty came through the ranks at Luton Town and made his way into the first team in 1997 where he played against Rotherham United but only made 1 appearance for Luton as Arsenal snapped him up for a deal worth £2mill. Upson though was faced with a difficult challenge of getting in to the Arsenal starting 11 as such players as Keown, Bould and Adams stood in his way. Matty only made 35 apps for Arsenal without scoring over 6 years. But throughout that preiod he had gone out on loan to Notts Forest, Cystal Palace and Reading but never managed to score. In the 2002 season he made 22 apps for Arsenal giving him a PL winners medal but a broken leg ruled him out of an F.A Cup winners medal. In 2003 Birmingham bought Matty for a fee of 1 mill but it rised to over 3 mill due to the amount of appearences he made for them. But just like at Arsenal injurys cost him as he damaged his leg before a derby game against Villa and consequently missed the rest of the season in which Birmingham later dropped down to the Championship. But Matty made 113 apps for the Blues scoring 5 goals in the process.
In January 2007 Alan Curbishley came in for the defender and snapped him up in a deal worth up to £7.5 mill on the last day of the transfer window and agreed a 4 year deal. But just 30 minutes into his debut at Villa Park Matty suffered a calf injury and then once he came back in the dramatic 4-3 game at Upton Park against Spurs he only lasted 11mins. He finally made his first full appearance in a 2-0 away defeat to Man City. He then became captain 1 week later in a 1-0 away win at former club Birmingham. His first goal for the Hammers came when Curbishley kept up his 100% winning record against Man U with West Ham as he nodded in a winner in a dramatic 2-1 victory over the PL champions. Earlier on this season Matty gave up the number 6 shirt in memory of West Ham legend Bobby Moore and traded it for the number 15 shirt.
Despite Matty's injury crisis he has made 12 apps for England Under 21's scoring 2 goals. And with recent performances he has helped him self to full England apps and has now made 12 scoring 1 goal. His goal came in Berlin just last week as England beat Germany 2-1 in a freindly match.
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