Matthew James Upson (born 18 April 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Upson played for England at full international level including at the 2010 World Cup. Upson started his career with Bedfordshire club Luton Town before he joined Premier League club Arsenal for a fee of £2 million in May 1997. Upson struggled to force his way into the first team at Highbury making 57 appearances in 6 seasons and also spent time out on loan at Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Reading. Upson joined Birmingham City in 2003 where he enjoyed regular first team football. However following Birmingham's relegation in 2006 he went on to join West Ham United for £7.5 million in January 2007. He was made captain in 2009 following the departure of Lucas Neill. At the end of the 2010–11 season West Ham were relegated to the Championship and Upson left after his contract had expired. Upson signed a two-year contract with Stoke City in August 2011. After a loan spell with Brighton & Hove Albion in the 2012–13 season, he signed a one-year contract with the club in 2013. Club career Luton Town Upson was born in Eye, Suffolk, and attended Diss High School in Norfolk. Originally at the Ipswich Town Centre of Excellence, he joined Luton Town as a trainee after Ipswich youth coach Terry Westley moved there. Upson signed professional forms in April 1996, and made his sole Football League appearance for the team as an 88th-minute substitute against Rotherham United in August 1996. Arsenal He joined Arsenal in May 1997 in a £2 million deal. However, faced with the longevity of Arsenal's existing centre backs, Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown, and struck by injury problems of his own, Upson rarely had a chance to break into the first team. He played only five matches in the 1997–98 Premier League season as Arsenal won the title, so did not qualify for a winners' medal. After spending a year out of the game recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in 1999, Upson made a handful of first-team appearance for Arsenal, in between loan spells at Nottingham Forest in 2000 and Crystal Palace in 2001. In 2001–02, his final full season at Arsenal, Upson made 22 appearances. These included 14 in the league, which earned him a Premier League winners' medal, but a broken