Vincent Kompa...

Vincent Kompany (born April 10, 1986 in Uccle ) is a Belgian football defender, who plays for the English club Manchester City and the Belgian national team. He is considered "one of Europe's best talents"[1]. Kompany won several awards in Belgium when he played for RSC Anderlecht, including the Belgian Golden Shoe and the Belgian Ebony Shoe[1]. Another player, Aruna Dindane, decided to wear the number 27 on his shirt at his arrival at RC Lens in the summer of 2005, in dedication to Kompany (who had the same number at Anderlecht). In the second half of the 2005-2006 season, Kompany injured his shoulder and decided in favour of an operation, even though it meant he would miss the last couple of months of the competition. The fact that he underwent the surgery and rehabilitation in Lyon fueled strong rumours that French Olympique Lyonnais would become his next team[2]. On June 9, 2006 it was announced though that he was acquired by HSV for a fee of € 10 million to replace his fellow countryman Daniel Van Buyten [3]. He made six Bundesliga starts for the club before suffering an achilles injury in November that ruled him out for the rest of the season[4]; however, he was selected in a 30-man provisional squad for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship[5]. The Belgian federation called up Kompany to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Initially, Hamburg decided not to let him go as the Olympics was not an official FIFA tournament. After a bit of dispute, Hamburg decided to release him under the condition that he returns after Belgium's first two group games. At the Beijing Olympics, Belgium's first game was against Brazil where he got sent off in a 1-0 loss and as a consequence his tournament was over as the red card would rule him out of Belgium's second group game. Due to the turn of events, Kompany decided against returning back to Germany in hope of playing the last group game to help his country qualify to the knockout stages. Hamburg maintained their stance that he was to return and the Belgian FA decided to release him. He later came on as a substitute on the opening game for Hamburg against Bayern Munich. The rocky relationship with Hamburg and Kompany is said to be a major factor in Kompany transferring to Manchester City. On the 22nd of August 2008 Manchester City confirmed the transfer of Kompany from Hamburger SV on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee thought to be on the region of 6 million pounds .[6] Just two days after signing for Man City, Kompany made his debut against West Ham and won the man of the match award.