George Boateng - Midfielder Date of Birth: September 5, 1975 Birthplace: Unknown (Ghana) Nationality: Dutch Height: 1.80m / 5'9" Previous Clubs: Coventry Joined Villa: July 20, 1999 Acquisition Price: £4.5 million Debut: Newcastle (a), August 7, 1999 Left Villa (for): February 8, 2003 (Middlesbrough) Selling Price: £4.5m million

George Boateng arrived at Villa Park from Coventry (another one :-) and quickly settled in. For three seasons now, he has been starting on the pitch in practically every game, and his work rate is unquestionably very high, making him very valuable in the defensive aspects of the midfield game. However, a lot of fans don't feel that he contributes enough in the offensive parts.

Most fans probably remember Boateng for an incident with ye olde Paul Gascoigne in a Middlesbrough game. Gascoigne, with questionable ethics as usual, suddenly decided to plant an elbow right in the face of Boateng. Amazingly, Gascoigne's elbow came off far worse than the jaw of Boateng. As the physio inspected Paul, it quickly became evident that he had actually broken his elbow. Boateng, on the other hand, was on his feet in no time at all. He was nicknamed Iron-Jaw in the Villa Park dressing room many months after that incident.