One of three Dawson brothers to graduate from the Forest Youth Academy, Michael made his first team debut towards the end of the 2001/02 season with a start against Walsall. It was obvious from that game alone that he had a huge amount of potential, but few could have foreseen the impact he would have the following season.
Michael, still only 18, soon established himself as the preferred partner to Forest's veteran captain Des Walker and became one of the hottest properties in English football. He became a regular in the England U21 team under former Forest boss David Platt and was even invited to train with the England first team in November of 2002.
By the end of that season he had attracted massive interests and is believed to have been the subject of a £10m bid from Manchester United, a bid which Forest rejected.
Dawson has great natural ability and shows experience beyond his years in his game. He holds all the skills a central defender needs - awareness, pace, strength, bravery, accuracy when tackling - and is also a very competent passer of the ball. He has even managed to help himself to a few goals.
Dawson's season 2002/03 ended on a sore note as he was dismissed for an uncharacteristically rash challenge during Forest's play-off game with Sheffield United which ruled him out for the second leg. The next campaign also started badly as a bout of Glandular Fever hampered his early games, but he worked through this and was back to his best by the new year.
Dawson is without doubt one of the most exciting and valuable prospects and the club and already a key player that Forest will be very keen to hold onto for as long as possible. There have been a number of bids put in for him, but Michael, who has also captained the side on a number of occasions, seems very committed to the club who gave him his big break.
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