Ashley Fletcher

Ashley Michael Fletcher (born 2 October 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championship club Middlesbrough.

Ashley Fletcher
Fletcher warming-up for West Ham United
Personal information
Full name Ashley Michael Fletcher[1]
Date of birth (1995-10-02) 2 October 1995[2]
Place of birth Keighley, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Playing position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Middlesbrough
Number 11
Youth career
2005–2009 Bolton Wanderers
2009–2015 Manchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2016 Manchester United 0 (0)
2016 → Barnsley (loan) 21 (5)
2016–2017 West Ham United 16 (0)
2017– Middlesbrough 80 (17)
2018 → Sunderland (loan) 16 (2)
National team‡
2015–2016 England U20 3 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:44, 22 July 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12:43, 8 October 2017 (UTC)

Fletcher began his professional career at Manchester United, having previously played at Bolton Wanderers during his youth. He then went on to join Barnsley on loan in 2016, where he achieved promotion and silverware, before signing for West Ham United on a free transfer. After just one season at the London Stadium, Fletcher relocated to Middlesbrough, where he broke into the first team. Furthermore, he has also briefly played for Sunderland on loan from Middlesbrough, as well as at international level for the England under-20 team.

Early life

Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire,[3] Fletcher attended Canon Slade School in Bolton, where he obtained 12 GCSEs all with grades of either A or B.[4] He played football, cricket, basketball, and athletics for the school.[4]

Club career

Manchester United

Fletcher joined Bolton Wanderers at the age of nine, before moving to Manchester United at the age of 13.[4] He signed his first professional contract with Manchester United in May 2014.[4]

Fletcher signed for Barnsley on loan in January 2016.[5] He scored on his professional debut on 9 January 2016, in a 1–1 draw with Fleetwood Town in the Football League Trophy Northern Area Final first leg,[6] and scored his first league goal on 20 February 2016.[7]

On 3 April 2016 he scored a goal in the 2016 Football League Trophy Final as Barnsley won the competition.[8] On 29 May 2016, he scored the opening goal in Barnsley's 3–1 victory in the 2016 Football League One play-off Final against Millwall, helping Barnsley return to the Championship.[9] In total Fletcher scored nine goals in 27 games for Barnsley during his spell at the club.[6]

After impressing while on loan at Barnsley, Fletcher was offered a new contract at Manchester United amid interest from Championship side Leeds United.[10] On 23 June 2016, it was reported that he had turned down the contract offer to stay at Manchester United but would continue to train at the club.[11]

West Ham United

In July 2016, Fletcher signed a four-year deal with West Ham United.[12]

He made his unofficial debut for West Ham United's Development squad on 15 July 2016 in a 2–0 pre-season friendly defeat away to Chelmsford City.[13]

His West Ham debut came on 18 August in the UEFA Europa League when he was introduced as a last minute substitute for Andy Carroll in a 3–0 win over NK Domžale.[14] His Premier League debut came again from the substitutes bench on 21 August when he replaced Håvard Nordtveit after 80 minutes, in a 1–0 win over Bournemouth.[14]

On 30 November 2016, Fletcher scored his first goal for West Ham, in a 4–1 defeat to Manchester United, in the EFL Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford.[14][15]

Middlesbrough

On 28 July 2017, Fletcher signed for Middlesbrough for a fee of £6.5 million, signing a four-year contract.[16][17] He made his debut on 5 August 2017 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 1–0 defeat.[18] His first goal for the club came as the last of three in a 3–0 win against Scunthorpe United on 22 August 2017 in the EFL Cup,[19] his first in the league came in a 3–2 win over Queens Park Rangers on 16 September.[20]

On 31 January 2018, Fletcher made a deadline day switch to Sunderland, signing on loan for the remainder of the season.[21] He scored his first goal for Sunderland in a 4–1 win at Derby County on 30 March 2018.[22] Fletcher was a member of the Sunderland team that suffered relegation to League One at the end of the season, meaning that the club had suffered two consecutive relegations.[23] Furthermore, his tenure at the club resulted in him appearing in the Netflix documentary series Sunderland 'Til I Die, released on 14 December 2018.[24]

During the off-season, Fletcher returned to Middlesbrough, with fellow Championship club Hull City expressing their interest in signing the striker.[25] However, no move materialised, though their manager Nigel Adkins later attempted to sign him again in the winter transfer window.[26] During his second season with Middlesbrough, Fletcher broke into Tony Pulis' team.[27] He went on to score 5 goals in 21 league appearances, in a season where Middlesbrough narrowly failed to gain play-off qualification.[28][29][30]

Fletcher claimed the number 11 shirt ahead of the 2019–20 season, the first season under new manager Jonathan Woodgate.[31] He scored on the first day of the new season: a 3–3 draw at Luton Town on 2 August.[32] Fletcher managed to push Britt Assombalonga out of the first-team.[33] In January 2020, Fletcher won the Championship Goal of the Month award for December in recognition for his 30-yard volley against West Bromwich Albion, which ended in a 2–0 victory in Middlesbrough's favour.[34]

International career

In November 2015, Fletcher made his debut for the England under-20 side, scoring only 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute. In March 2016, he was called up to face the Canada under-20s, playing up front with his then Manchester United teammate Marcus Rashford, and scored in a 4–1 win.[35]

Career statistics
As of 22 July 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Manchester United 2015–16[6] Premier League 00—000000
Barnsley (loan) 2015–16[6] League One 215——6[lower-alpha 1]4279
West Ham United 2016–17[14] Premier League 16010112[lower-alpha 2]0201
Middlesbrough 2017–18[22] Championship 1610031—192
2018–19[28] Championship 215315300299
2019–20[36] Championship 43112111004613
Total 80175295009424
Sunderland (loan) 2017–18[22] Championship 1621100—173
Career total 13324731068415837
  1. Three appearances and two goals in Football League Trophy, three appearances and two goals in League One play-offs
  2. Appearances in Europa League

Honours

Barnsley

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References
  1. "Squads for 2016/17 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  2. "Ashley Fletcher". 11v11. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  3. "Profile". Manchester United F.C. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  4. Craig Nelson (24 May 2014). "Former Canon Slade pupil Ashley Fletcher wins pro contract at Manchester United". Bolton News. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  5. "Manchester United striker Ashley Fletcher joins Barnsley on loan". BBC Sport. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  6. "Games played by Ashley Fletcher in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  7. Simon Bajkowski (23 February 2016). "Manchester United youngster Ashley Fletcher delighted with first league goal". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  8. Simon Bajkowski (3 April 2016). "Manchester United's Ashley Fletcher scores in Wembley win". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  9. Stevens, Rob (29 May 2016). "Barnsley 3–1 Millwall". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  10. Phil Hay (6 June 2016). "Leeds United: Whites keen on Manchester United forward Ashley Fletcher". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  11. Phil Hay (24 June 2016). "Leeds United's hopes of signing Fletcher rise as striker turns down Old Trafford deal". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  12. Rob Stevens (12 July 2016). "Ashley Fletcher: England Under-20 striker joins West Ham from Man Utd". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  13. "FT- Chelmsford City 2–0 Dev Squad". whufc.com. West Ham United F.C. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  14. "Games played by Ashley Fletcher in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  15. "Fletcher ready for more goals". West Ham United F.C. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  16. "Ashley Fletcher Signs For Boro". mfc.co.uk. Middlesbrough FC. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  17. "Ashley Fletcher: Middlesbrough sign West Ham United striker for £6.5m". BBC Sport. 28 July 2017.
  18. "Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–0 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  19. "Middlesbrough 3–0 Scunthorpe United". BBC Sport. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  20. "Middlesbrough 3–2 Queens Park Rangers". BBC Sport. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  21. "Ovie Ejaria, Ashley Fletcher and Lee Camp join Sunderland". BBC Sport. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  22. "Games played by Ashley Fletcher in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  23. "Sunderland 1–2 Burton Albion". BBC Sport. 21 April 2018.
  24. Johns, Craig (26 November 2018). "Sunderland AFC Netflix documentary gets a release date and a title too". Evening Chronicle. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  25. "Middlesbrough man closing in on move to Championship side". Football League World. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  26. "Nigel Adkins wants Middlesbrough's Ashley Fletcher as Hull City target "two or three" news signings". Hull Live. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  27. "Middlesbrough: 'I don't want Ashley Fletcher to be as nice'". The Northern Echo. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  28. "Games played by Ashley Fletcher in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  29. "Middlesbrough and Tony Pulis part ways after club fail to make play-offs". Yahoo Sports UK. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  30. "Middlesbrough will come back stronger after play-offs disappointment, assures John Obi Mikel". Goal.com. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  31. "Squad Numbers For 2019/20 Season". Middlesbrough F.C. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  32. "Luton Town 3–3 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  33. "Leeds United handed boost in Britt Assombalonga chase?". Sports Mole. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  34. "Ashley Fletcher Clinches Sky Bet Championship Goal Of The Month". MFC.co.uk. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  35. Simon Bajkowski (31 March 2016). "Manchester United starlet Ashley Fletcher out to join Marcus Rashford via Wembley spotlight". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  36. "Games played by Ashley Fletcher in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  37. Cartwright, Phil (3 April 2016). "Barnsley 3–2 Oxford United". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
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