Top facts about Chris Wood, New Zealander forward of Newcastle United

Chris Wood is a New Zealand professional football player that currently features for Premier League club Newcastle United and the New Zealand national team in the position of a striker.

Back to his early career, he joined Waikato FC, which is a club in Hamilton, New Zealand that is ranked in the highest division of New Zealand football.

He spent the initial part of his career at that club and also Hamilton Wanderers until he moved to England in order to play for Premier League side West Bromwich Albion.

Then he went on to spend a span of his career being loaned to six different clubs until he was transferred to Leicester City in 2013.

Afterwards, following a loan span with

in 2015, he got contracted with Championship club Leeds United where he ended up receiving the honour to become the top scorer in the 2016–17 season.

Moreover, he then moved to Burnley for a club-record fee; and turned out to become a consistent goalscorer for them in the Premier League, piling up 49 goals and 144 appearances in his four-and-a-half seasons with them.

As one of the

top facts about Chris Wood

, it is amazing to suggest that he represented his national side 61 times, netting 28 goals.

Not to mention that he featured in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, accompanying the squad that won the 2016 OFC Nations Cup.

Top facts about Chris Wood, New Zealander forward of Newcastle United

Here you would find everything there is to know in regard to the Top facts about Chris Wood, New Zealander forward of

.

Chris Wood quick facts

Bio

• Full name

  : Christopher Grant Wood

• Nickname

  : The Kiwi Kicker

General information

• Date of birth

  : 7 December 1991

• Age

  : 30 years old

• Place of birth

  : Auckland, New Zealand

• Nationality

  : New Zealander

• Religion

  : Unknown

• Height

  : 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)

• Weight

  : 94 kg

Football information

• Profession

  : Footballer

• Position

  (s): Forward

• Current Team

  : Newcastle Utd

• Number

  : 20 (Newcastle Utd), 9 (New Zealand)

• Strong foot

  : Right

Personal information

• Marital status

  : Unmarried

• Girlfriend

  : Kirsty Linnett (footballer)

• Sister

  : Chelsey Wood (footballer)

• Car

  : Ferarri

• Net Worth

  :12 Million Euro (10 Million Pound)

• Market Value

  : 8 Million Euro (7.1 Million Pound)

Chris Wood childhood

Christopher Grant Wood, widely recognized as Chris Wood, was born on the 7th day of December 1991 to his mother Julie Wood and father, Grant Wood in Auckland, a city that is located on the North Island of

.

Chris Wood childhood

was spent in a Christian home with military origins since his grandfather was a retired military officer before his death. While Chris was raised up along with his older sister Chelsey Wood, who also ended up being a successful footballer.

As one of the top facts about Chris Wood, it is notable to indicate that both he and his elder sister, took huge delight playing soccer against each other at home. Their parent urged Chris to join his sister at Onehunga Sports, as he ended up learning to enjoy team sport there.

In an attempt to immerse themselves more in the learning, both of them moved on to get a football education at Wynrs, which is the Auckland-based academy founded by former All White Wynton Rufer. It was there that Wood managed to further develop his technique so as to become fully prepared to attend football trials.

When he was 11 years old, his family left the New Zealand city of Auckland and moved to the Waikato rural town of Cambridge that was located 24 kilometres southeast of Hamilton.

With his family move to “Cambridge” which is also recognized as “The Town of Trees & Champions", the siblings joined St Paul's Collegiate School.

Being enthusiastically passionate about pursuing his football career, Chris's unconditional passion for football, resulted in his success in passing trials and being registered to play junior football with the local club Cambridge FC.

It is amazing to suggest among the

top facts about Chris Wood

that while his senior career started in Cambridge FC, he put away a goal on his debut appearance in the NRFL Division 2 in 2006 when he was just 14 years old.

Afterwards, he spent a span of his career at local rivals Hamilton Wanderers in the next season of the NRFL Premier, where ASB Premiership club Waikato FC became interested in him going on to acquire his service in 2007.

While he even joined the club, many other

clubs were attracted to him to the point that following his appearance in only 5 games, he joined the English club, West Brom.

Chris Wood professional career

Following that Chris had a prolific span at West Brom's youth academy side, he was called up to the reserve team and in April 2009, when several West Brom players underwent injuries, Wood surprisingly was called up to the first-team to feature in a Premier League match against Portsmouth at Fratton Park, where he ended up to be fifth New Zealander to star in the

.

He made his first professional agreement at the end of the 2008–09 season which was a two-year contract with a further two-year option in the club's favour.

Then in December 2009, he signed a new three-and-a-half-year agreement, with West Brom having the option to promote it for one more year.

It could be suggested as one of the top facts about Chris Wood that he netted his first professional goal for West Brom on 15 September 2009, which was a "stunning" 25-yard strike into the top left corner, in their 3–1 triumph over Doncaster Rovers.

He put away his second senior goal in a 2–0 victory over Huddersfield Town less than seven minutes following that he came off the bench in West Brom's FA Cup third-round tie on 2 January 2010.

Then following that he appeared for the club without scoring any goal, he consented to be sent out on a 93-day emergency loan to Barnsley on 24 September 2010.

It was on 19 November that he got contracted with Brighton & Hove Albion on loan until January 2011 and he netted when he debuted in a match against Bristol Rovers.

He went on to add to his number of goals in the 3–1 FA Cup victory over Portsmouth, putting away twice against Peterborough United.

Just one day prior to the first match of the Championship season, he transferred to

on a one-month loan. He debuted the next day, as he was replaced with Keith Fahey in the second half of a 2–1 loss to Derby County.

While he put away his first goal for Birmingham in the second leg of the tie against Nacional, on 11 September, he managed to score a hat-trick to lead Birmingham in their victory over Millwall.

After that he scored two goals against Nottingham Forest on 2 October, his league total goals reached seven from eight games and as a result, they promoted loan for a second time, until 5 January 2012.

Following some further great performances, his loan contract finished on 5 January 2012, after that he racked up 29 appearances and 11 goals in all competitions.

Almost upon his comeback to West Bromwich Albion, he was transferred on loan to Bristol City until the end of the 2011–12 season, where he ended up scoring overall three goals.

Then on 17 September 2012, he signed a two-month loan deal to Championship side Millwall, making his debut as a substitute for Darius Henderson against Cardiff City.

On his first start at the club, he put away a consolation goal against his former club Brighton & Hove Albion and went on to promote his loan until January 2013, as he put away the winning goal against

on the same day.

It was on 27 December 2012, that West Bromwich Albion recalled him from Millwall so as to announce the offers from Millwall and fellow Championship club Leicester City for his permanent move.

Wood made his mind to join Leicester in the January 2013 transfer window. While at first, he joined the club on loan so as to be registered in time to play, in his debut appearance for Leicester on 1 January 2013, he featured as a starter and went on to score twice after only 24 minutes in their game against Huddersfield Town.

It might be considered as one of the top facts about Chris Wood that on 12 January 2013, he managed to score his first-half hat-trick against Bristol City at Ashton Gate in order to make his goal tally reach the number of six just in his three games of

.

Following a series of impressive feats at the club, on 27 February 2015, he moved to Ipswich Town on loan until the end of the season.

He debuted for them against Norwich City on 1 March and went on to feature in eight games for them without scoring any goal and therefore he was called up by his own club to help them avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Then on 1 July 2015, he moved to Championship club Leeds United on a four-year deal for a fee reportedly to be around £2.5–3 million. With this fee, he proved to be Leeds' most expensive signing since the arrival of Nick Barmby in August 2002.

On 8 August, he debuted on the opening day of the season, in the Championship match against Burnley. While he put away his first goal for them on 19 August in a 2–2 draw with Bristol City, he went on to score more than 10 goals so as to be the club's top goal scorer for the 2015–16 season.

After a series of utterly impressive feats with the club, he even went on to win the EFL Championship Player of the Month award for January 2017, as he was also voted PFA Fans' Championship Player of the Month for both January and March.

As one of the other

top facts about Chris Wood

, it is quite mindblowing to indicate that he turned out to be the only Leeds player that was selected for the PFA Championship Team of the Year and at the club stage, he could win Leeds United's Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year awards for 2016–17.

It was on 21 August 2017, he made a four-year contract with Premier League club Burnley for a fee reported to be £15 million.

Wood made his Burnley debut on 27 August against Tottenham Hotspur at

in the Premier League where he managed to score an equaliser in the second minute of stoppage time in their 1–1 draw.

Then after a while on 8 November 2019, he made a new agreement with the club so as to be an established member of Burnley until 2023.

Among the numerous goals he scored for them, it is notable to point out his netting 40th goal in the Premier League in a 1–1 draw against Arsenal on 6 March 2021, while he became the eighth player in the history of the club who has started 100 Premier League games for Burnley.

It could not be excluded from our top facts about Chris Wood that on 25 April, he successfully scored his first hat-trick for Burnley in a 4–0 away league victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, so as to become the first New Zealander to score three goals in a Premier League match.

On 13 January 2022, he got a two-and-a-half-year contract with Newcastle United for a reported fee to be £25 million, following that his release clause was triggered.

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe expressed that Wood was an important signing at a crucial time of the season and Wood himself deemed the move as an "exciting opportunity" following that he proved to be the club's second signing since the takeover from a Saudi-backed consortium.

Wood debuted just two days after joining the club when he appeared as a starter in a 1–1 draw against

.

Chris Wood international career

Wood has been an outstanding player in his international career too, just for instance he represented New Zealand at the under-17 level where he was a top performer for them at the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup, to the point that it was there that West Bromwich Albion club became interested in him.

He even was fast-tracked into New Zealand's coach Ricki Herbert's squad for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, as he debuted in a friendly match against Tanzania on 3 June 2009 in a warm-up to the competition.

Not to mention that in May 2010, the 18-year-old Chris was among the squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, so as to become the youngest member of All Whites that had travelled to

, where they were knocked out of the tournament following that they drew all of their three group games.

While he put away his first international goal on 10 October 2010 in his country's 1–1 draw with Honduras, he received a yellow card for the bizarre goal celebration he made, by showing his underwear to the audience.

He even picked up the honour to score his first international hat-trick against Solomon Islands on 10 June 2012 in the 3rd/4th play-off of the OFC Nations Cup and on 14 November 2014, he proved to be the youngest ever captain of his national side, smashing the record of Tommy Smith.

He netted four goals in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup for New Zealand, leading them to win the tournament and to become qualified for the Confederations Cup.

Moreover, he took the responsibility of captaining his side in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, where he scored his only goal of the tournament on 21 June in a 2–1 loss to Mexico.

Chris Wood love life

When it comes to

Chris Wood personal life,

especially his love life affairs and his relationships it is fascinating to suggest that as of October 2018, Chris was in a relationship with Kirsty Linnett who was a professional footballer too.

She is a former English former footballer who for the last time featured for Liverpool in the position of a forward. She also spent some span of her career at Birmingham City, Notts County and Reading, while representing England on the U-15, U-17, U-19, and U-23 national teams.

Yet according to one source, the couple has separated and are not together currently. However, until now Chris has not revealed anything in this regard and whether he is currently single or not.

Chris Wood social media

As long as Chris Wood social media activity is concerned, it is notable to indicate that he is active on various networking platforms as the likes of Twitter and Instagram.

With his account of

, he has racked up around 53k followers with less than 50 posts, while he primarily tends to share posts in line with his football profession.

You can also find some of his activity about his personal life issues as the likes of images of his sister and his parents, but not a single one of his girlfriend.

It is also notable to suggest that his sister, Chelsey Wood was also a professional footballer who represented All Whites U20 in the 2010 Women's World Cup in Germany.

Chris Wood net worth

With Chris Wood starting his football career professionally in 2002, it is around 20 years that he has immersed himself in his football profession.

With such a commitment, he has undoubtedly earned a great deal of stardom and fortune from fans around the world as well as a hefty amount of money.

Therefore it is of little surprise to see

Chris Wood net worth

be around an estimated amount of 12 Million Euros (10 Million Pound), while he has been surprisingly Newcastle United's second signing in 2022.

Moreover, it is interesting to note that he drives Ferarri since once after that he had been driving his luxurious black Ferarri for a weekend, he wrote on his Twitter account accordingly: “Dream car, love it!!"

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