Darren Fletcher
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Darren Fletcher (born February 1, 1984, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a young midfield football player currently playing for Manchester United F.C.
Fletcher joined Manchester United as a trainee in July 2000 and signed a professional contract in February 2001. He was an extremely highly rated prospect [1] (http://www.soccernet.com/columns/2000/0728/20000728featlawrence.html), initially seen as a right winger in the David Beckham mould. His first few seasons at the club were marred by injury, and he did not reach the first team as quickly as some had anticipated. Also, as he developed he played more often in central midfield.
He has recently broken his way into the Manchester United team and played a number of important matches during the 2003-04 campaign. He was also involved in United's FA cup win over Millwall in May 2004.
Despite a slow start to the 2004/05 campaign, in which in the early part of the season, he made very few competitive appearances, it seems Fletcher is again breaking into the United first team, and finding the form he showed at the end of the previous season. On the 1st of January 2005 Fletcher scored his first goal at club level, despite having scored twice for his national side. The goal was the opener in the Premiership match against Middlesbrough.
He has established himself as a regular pick for Scotland and scored a sensational goal against Lithuania having come off the bench for only his second cap. His goal took Scotland to the play-offs for Euro 2004. On May 26, 2004, he became the youngest player to captain Scotland in the last 100 years when he lead his country to a 1-0 friendly win against Estonia in Tallinn.ja:ダレン・フレッチャー