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Jonathan Spector (born January 3, 1986 in Arlington Heights, Illinois), is an American soccer defender. He is under contract to Manchester United of the English Premiership, and is currently on Man U's playing roster, but he is due to be loaned out to fellow Premiership side Blackburn Rovers for the remainder of the 2004-05 season.
Spector graduated from USSF's Bradenton Academy in 2003. Because his ancestry allowed him to acquire a United Kingdom passport, Spector chose a route different from most of his classmates that included Eddie Gaven and Freddy Adu. Jonathan elected to go to Europe, signing with English giants Manchester United. He made his debut for the first team in August of 2004 and is currently a highly-touted prospect for one of the best teams in Europe. However, he has since found it difficult to break into the first team, largely because of the success of recent Man U signing Gabriel Heinze. On December 24, 2004, Man U manager Sir Alex Ferguson announced that Spector would be loaned out to Blackburn for the remainder of the season. However, Ferguson was soon forced to put the loan move on hold due to a temporary injury crisis in the Man U defending corps. The loan deal is still expected to go through before the transfer window closes on January 31, 2005.
In 2003, Spector played for the United States national team at the World Under-17 Championship in Finland. He got his first cap for the senior team on November 17, 2004 in a World Cup qualifier against Jamaica.
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