One to Watch – David Nugent

Portsmouth striker David Nugent has been identified by Vital QPR as the One to Watch as Rangers welcome Pompey to Loftus Road on Tuesday night.

Name: David Nugent
Date of Birth: 02/05/1985
Former Clubs: Bury, Preston, Burnley
Appearances (Goals): 268 (67)

David Nugent will be looking to take over the goalscoring responsibilities left by John Utaka and improve on his 8 goals for the 2010/2011 campaign. A striker with an impressive goalscoring record throughout his career, the Rs will have to keep an eye on the clinical 25 year old.

Initially a member of the Liverpool youth academy, Nugent left The Reds to join Bury`s Youth and Centre of Excellence at the age of 15. He made his first team debut in 2002 at the age of 16 and after initially struggling to live up to his early potential, he managed to finish with 18 goals in 88 league appearances at his time at Gigg Lane.

Several league clubs took an interest in Nugent before he eventually moved to Preston North End in 2005 for a fee of £100 000. He soon gained his credentials as a Championship striker with 10 league goals in the 2005/2006 season. A series of impressive performances led to an England call up in 2007 where he scored on his debut against Andorra.

After scoring 33 league goals in 94 league appearances for Preston, Nugent made a £6 million move to Portsmouth in July 2007. A somewhat unhappy initial stay at Portsmouth was littered with transfer speculation, bust-ups and poor performances. After managing only 2 league goals in one and a half years at Portsmouth he was loaned out to fellow Premiership club Burnley.

He managed 6 goals in 30 appearances at Burnley but returned to Portsmouth at the beginning of the 2010/2011 season where he indicated he would be staying at the club. Nugent has begun to resurrect a career that has somewhat gone off the boil, and will be aiming to fire a few goals at Loftus Road against a stuttering Rs side.




Have your say on The Forum

Follow us on Twitter