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Lee Sharpe, (born May 27 1971), is an English Association Football (soccer) player currently playing for Garforth Town F.C..
Sharpe began his career at Torquay United F.C.. However, in his first season for them (1987/88), after only 16 games, Manchester United F.C. noted his potential and swooped to sign him in June for £200,000.
Whilst at Manchester United, Sharpe established himself as a fantastic left winger, and earned a call up to the England squad. However, injury, and subsequent competition for places meant he missed many games during his time there, and was often played out of position at left back. In total he played 265 games for the Red Devils during eight years there, scoring 36 goals.
Despite his injury history, Leeds United F.C. signed him for £4.5 million in the summer of 1996, making him their record signing. Unfortuantly, his time at Leeds was beset by further injuries. He made 26 Premiership appearances in 1996-97 and scoring five goals, but a pre season knee injury ruled him out for the entire 1997-98 season and he was unable to regain his place in the team on recovery.
In the autumn of 1998, Lee Sharpe was loaned to Italian Serie A strugglers Sampdoria ,but soon fell out of favour and in the New Year he returned to England. A £250,000 fee took him to Bradford City in March 1999 and he was a key player in securing the club's promotion to the Premiership after 77 years outside the top division. He also helped preserve the club's Premiership status in 1999-2000.
In 2000-01, Sharpe lost his place in the Bradford team and just before Christmas went on loan to Division One Portsmouth F.C.. He returned to Bradford during the 2001-02 season but his contracted expired at the end of the season and he was given a free transfer. A brief spell at Exeter City followed before he then moved to Grindavik in Iceland. In June 2003 he announced his retirement from first class football at the age of 32, no doubt frustrated at the downhill spiral his career had gone down on in the past few seasons.
During 2003-04, Lee Sharpe made a brief return to football in the Kidderminster Sunday League before signing for Northern League Division One side Garforth Town the following summer.
Lee Sharpe was capped eight times by the England team between 1991 and 1995.
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