| Benni McCarthy |
Value: $ 9,000,000.00
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Club: Blackburn Rovers
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Position: Striker
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Birth Date: 11.12.1977
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| Birth City: Kaapstad |
Height: 1.8
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| Weight: 80 kg |
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| Player Biography
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| A charismatic centre-forward who has scored goals at every level of football, Benni McCarthy joined Blackburn in the summer of 2006. Born in South Africa, McCarthy started his professional career at 18, playing for Seven Stars and making his mark, scoring 39 goals in 49 games over two seasons. He was snapped up by the Cape Town Spurs were he stayed for two seasons until his new side merged with his old club to form Ajax Cape Town, a feeder club for Dutch side Ajax. He impressed the Dutch scouts enough to earn a move to Amsterdam, joining Ajax in 1998 and made an immediate impact, netting 21 times in 36 games in the 1998/9 campaign. The youngster started to attract attention from around Europe and when an offer - reported to be in the region of £3m - came in from Spanish side Celta Vigo, McCarthy decided to leave Holland after just one season. For the first time in his fledgling career, McCarthy hit a rough patch. A player who thrives on confidence, he was laid low at Celta, in and out of the side, his manager Victor Fernandez showed little faith in McCarthy who managed just 10 goals in two seasons before being loaned to Portuguese side Porto in 2001. McCarthy flourished at Porto under newly appointed coach Jose Mourinho, and although they initially lacked the funds to buy the South African, they eventually - following the sale of Helda Postiga to Tottenham - found the money to save him from his bench warming duties at Celta and he became a revelation, firing Mourinho's side to the Portuguese League title as the league's highest scorer, and instrumental in Porto's fairytale Champions League victory. Mourinho promptly left the club only to be replaced by his former Celta manager Fernandez. This sent McCarthy's career back into free-fall and led the unsettled striker to try and force his own exit. A move to Everton stalled at the eleventh hour in 2004 and McCarthy was forced to stay at Porto. He won another Portuguese title medal in the 2004/5 season but after a miserable 2005/6 campaign, during which he scored just three goals, he was allowed to join Blackburn for a fee in the region of £2.5m. Despite struggling in his last two seasons at Porto, his record in Portugal was actually not bad - he scored 34 times in 75 games for Porto. There is no doubting that when he gets it right, the South African international is a class act and he was able to prove this in his first season in England's top division. McCarthy finished the second top goal scorer in the league, with an amazing 19 goals. The future looks bright for this forward, with several of the larger European clubs interested in him.
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GP |
Min |
Goals |
Own Goals |
Yellow Cards |
Red Cards |
Wins |
Draws |
Losses |
| Totals |
5 |
169 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
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| Date |
Min |
Goals |
Own Goals |
Yellow Cards |
Red Cards |
Wins |
Draws |
Losses |
| 15/08/09 |
90 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 22/08/09 |
19 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 04/10/09 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 31/10/09 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 07/11/09 |
45 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
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