Thomas Andrew Huddlestone (born 28 December 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and coach for Premier League club Manchester United. Having progressed through the youth ranks at Nottingham Forest and Derby County, Huddlestone began his professional career in 2003 with the latter club. He quickly broke into the first team, and made 88 league appearances before switching to Tottenham Hotspur in 2005. Having spent some of the 2005–06 season on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he made 13 league appearances, he began to break into the Tottenham team during the 2006–07 season, and became a regular player for the club. However, he struggled with injury problems during the 2011–12 season, and fell out of favour. He joined Hull City in August 2013, having made 144 league appearances for Tottenham. Huddlestone represented England at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-20 levels before making his under-21 debut in 2005. He was a regular for the under-21 team between 2005 and 2009, and made 33 appearances. He made senior full England debut in 2009, and has since gone on to make three further appearances. Club career Derby County Born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Huddlestone was taken on by Nottingham Forest at an early age but was released at 12 as he was claimed to be "not strong enough". He joined Derby County and after progressing well, made his debut for Derby County's reserve team at the age of just 15, when he appeared as an 80th minute substitute at right wingback in a match against Coventry City. He was given his first-team debut by George Burley at the age of 16 on the opening day of the 2003–04 season in a 3–0 home defeat to Stoke City, where he was voted man of the match. Though Derby struggled in Huddlestone's first full season, Huddlestone was one of Derby's few bright points, with Burley saying "He's a terrific talent. As a young player, he (is) the best passer of a ball I (have) ever seen, and I've worked with some good young players." He eventually went on to appear in 43 of Derby's 46 league matches that season. He enjoyed an equally successful 2004–05 as Derby reached the First Division play-offs, where they lost to Preston North End in the semi-final. However, halfway through the season Huddlestone signed for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in January 2005 for a fee