Aaron Lennon BiographyDuring season 2002/03, Aaron was a stand out for Leeds United's juniors after scoring a hat-trick in the FA Youth Cup. Following that, he signed his first Academy contract with his home town club in the summer of 2003.
In August 2003, the winger/striker then became the youngest Premiership player after coming off the bench in United's defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. He was just 16 years and 129 days old.
Lennon's impressive form, which earned him the Young Player Of The Year award from the Yorkshire club's fans, ignited the interest of Spurs.
In the summer of 2005, the North London club took advantage of Leeds' financial problems to take 'roadrunner' to White Hart Lane for an undisclosed fee. It was thought Lennon would play 'second fiddle' to Spurs' other new signing Wayne Routledge, however, an injury for the ex-Palace man on the opening day at Portsmouth, soon saw Aaron's first-team chances improve.
A few games later he came on at half-time to make his debut at White Hart Lane in a 2-0 loss against Chelsea.
He was gradually eased into Premiership football by Spurs' manager Martin Jol, who would either start Aaron and take him off around the 70th minute mark or bring him on as a substitute. Of course, as the season went on, it became more and more apparent that Lennon gave Spurs something that other players did not - pace!
Aaron's form caught the eye of international managers, and soon a call up came from England U21 manager Peter Taylor. More surprisingly, a call up from England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson for his 2006 World Cup squad soon came. Most people expected Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips to be selected, however, the former Manchester City winger had become something of a reserve at Stamford Bridge.
Unfortunately season 2006/07 got off to a poor start for Aaaron and Spurs as they won just one of their first four league games. It was soon compounded when the winger suffered a minor tear in the cartilage, which eventually required a knee operation. This would keep him out of action for six weeks.
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