John Charles

Many Welsh football fans regard John Charles as the greatest footballing talent their country has ever produced. After being spotted playing for a local youth club team near his native Swansea, Charles was signed by Leeds at the age of 17 in 1948. He made his league debut against Blackburn in April 1949 playing at centre half, a position he occupied until the 1952-53 season when he converted to centre-forward with great success, scoring a massive 42 goals in the 1953-54 season.

He moved to Italy in 1957 to join Juventus for a then British record transfer fee of £65,000 and had five tremendous years with the Turin club, winning three league titles and two Italian Cups. Charles returned to Leeds in 1962 but failed to rediscover the form that had first made him such a favourite in Yorkshire. He moved on quickly, first to Rome and then back to Wales with Cardiff, where he won two Welsh Cups, finishing his league career in 1966.

Charles later dropped out of the football league to become player-manager, then manager of Hereford United and Merthyr Tydfil before bowing out of the game in 1974 to run a pub in Yorkshire. But he was always a familiar figure at Leeds’ Elland Road ground right up to his death in 2004.

When Charles made his full international debut for Wales against Northern Ireland in 1950, aged 18 years and 71 days, he became the youngest-ever Welsh international. He was also one of the key players in the Welsh side that made it to the World Cup quarter-finals in 1958. Charles missed the match against eventual champions Brazil, which Wales lost 1-0, and many believe that had he played Wales would have pulled off a famous victory.