Wes McDonald

Wesley Nurettin McDonald (born 4 May 1997) is an English footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for League Two club Walsall.

Wes McDonald
Personal information
Full name Wesley Nurettin McDonald[1]
Date of birth (1997-05-04) 4 May 1997[2]
Place of birth London, England
Playing position(s) Winger, attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Walsall
Number 25
Youth career
20??–2009 Crystal Palace
2009–2013 Fulham
2013–2015 Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Birmingham City 0 (0)
2016 → Nuneaton Town (loan) 4 (0)
2018 → Solihull Moors (loan) 5 (0)
2018–2019 Yeovil Town 9 (0)
2019– Walsall 28 (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:17, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

McDonald joined Birmingham City from Fulham as a 16-year-old. He spent a month on loan at National League South club Nuneaton Town in 2016, and a month at Solihull Moors of the National League in 2018, but never appeared for Birmingham's first team, and was released at the end of the 2017–18 season. He spent the first half of the following season with League Two club Yeovil Town, and joined Walsall in July 2019.

Club career

Early life and career

McDonald was born in London,[3] and joined Fulham's academy from Crystal Palace as a 12-year-old.[4] Through an arrangement with the club, he attended Coombe Boys' School in New Malden, Surrey.[4] He was a member of the England under-16 training squad ahead of the 2012 Victory Shield, but a serious knee injury prevented his participation[5] and kept him out until the following summer, when he took up a scholarship with Fulham. Their academy director described him as "a central midfield player who always looks to break the play up and get us moving forward [and who] can chip in with a goal or two as well."[4]

Birmingham City

Later that year, he transferred to Birmingham City where he continued his scholarship.[6] At the time, academy coach Steve Spooner described him as "only small" but "a really powerful boy who has an eye for goal [and] likes to take people on".[7] In late 2014, McDonald suffered a knee ligament injury that restricted his progress, despite which he was given his first professional contract, of two years, in May 2015. He was by then playing in a more advanced role: according to Spooner, he could "play on either flank or off the top. He has good levels of skill, he's very powerful and possesses a great engine. He has pace and scores goals as well."[2]

In his first senior season, McDonald played regularly for the club's under-21 team.[8] On 12 February 2016, he joined National League South (sixth-tier) club Nuneaton Town on a one-month youth loan, following Birmingham teammate Kyle McFarlane whose loan expired the same day.[8] He went straight into the starting eleven for the next day's visit to Brackley Town, and provided the assist for Elliot Whitehouse's goal that secured the team's first win of 2016, before being replaced after 87 minutes.[9] He made four appearances, all starts, during his month.[3] After his return to Birmingham, he appeared as a substitute for the reserve team that lost the 2016 Birmingham Senior Cup final to National League North champions Solihull Moors.[10] He played regularly for Birmingham's under-23 team. In February 2017, coach Richard Beale commented that over the previous few months, McDonald had "really twigged that you have to work really hard without the ball as well",[11] and his development was such that the club confirmed their intention to extend his contract.[12] Towards the end of the 2016–17 season, after McDonald had produced a scoring streak of six goals in five matches for the under-23 team, manager Gianfranco Zola named him as one of the younger players – others named were Corey O'Keeffe and Jack Storer – who would be given a chance of first-team football once the team were sure of avoiding relegation to League One.[13] He finished the season as top scorer for the under-23s, but Birmingham's failure to avoid relegation until the final match meant any first-team debut remained on hold.[14][15]

The club took up the one-year option on McDonald's contract for the 2017–18 season,[16] and in September, he spent a month on loan at Solihull Moors,[14] where he played five National League matches and one in the Birmingham Senior Cup.[3][17] He was unable to break into Birmingham's senior squad, and in February 2018, the club confirmed that he would be released.[18] In March, he had a trial with Queens Park Rangers[19] which came to nothing.

Yeovil Town

On 3 August 2018, McDonald signed a short-term contract with League Two club Yeovil Town, to run until January 2019.[20] He was an unused substitute on the opening day of the season, and made his Football League debut a week later, starting and playing the whole of a 2–2 draw at home to Mansfield Town.[21][22] On 3 January 2019, having failed to agree a new contract with Yeovil, McDonald was released upon the expiry of his short-term contract.[23]

Walsall

McDonald signed a short-term contract with recently relegated League Two club Walsall in July 2019.[24] Away to Crawley Town on 28 September, McDonald supplied the cross for Elijah Adebayo to put Walsall 2–0 ahead and then "cut in from the left-wing and curled a beautiful effort into the far corner" for the first goal of his senior career to make the score 3–1; Walsall won the match 3–2.[25]

His deal at Walsall was extended until the summer of 2021 on 7 January 2020.[26]

Career statistics
As of match played 7 March 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Birmingham City 2015–16[3] Championship000000—00
2016–17[3] Championship000000—00
2017–18[3] Championship000000—00
Total 000000—00
Nuneaton Town (loan) 2015–16[3] National League North40——0040
Solihull Moors (loan) 2017–18[3][17] National League5000—1[lower-alpha 1]060
Yeovil Town 2018–19[21][3] League Two9010101[lower-alpha 2]0120
Walsall 2019–20[27] League Two28520104[lower-alpha 2]2357
Career total 465302062577
  1. Appearance in Birmingham Senior Cup
  2. Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
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References
  1. "EFL: Club retained and released lists published". English Football League. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  2. Lewis, Peter (6 May 2015). "Youngsters sign first pro deals". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  3. "W. McDonald". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  4. "Academy scholarships". Fulham F.C. 19 July 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  5. "Running the rule over the scholars". Viva el Fulham. 19 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 August 2013.
  6. "List of Scholars Whose Registrations have been Cancelled by Mutual Consent Between 01/11/2013 and 30/11/2013 and List of Players Registered as Scholars in Accordance with Rule C.3 Between 01/11/2013 and 30/11/2013" (PDF). The Football Association. pp. 6, 7. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  7. "Blues snap up McDonald". Birmingham City F.C. 17 December 2013. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014.
  8. Dick, Brian (12 February 2016). "Birmingham City starlet joins Nuneaton". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  9. "Full time – Brackley Town 2 Nuneaton Town 3". Nuneaton Town F.C. 13 February 2016. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  10. Dick, Brian (5 May 2016). "Birmingham Senior Cup final: Birmingham City U21s 1 Solihull Moors 2". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  11. "Blues youngsters denied at the last". Birmingham City F.C. 11 February 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  12. "Club makes decisions on young prospects". Birmingham City F.C. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  13. Dick, Brian (12 April 2017). "Birmingham City manager Gianfranco Zola identifies the youngsters who will get their chance – when safety is guaranteed". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  14. "McDonald makes Solihull Moors move". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  15. "Bristol City 0–1 Birmingham City". BBC Sport. 7 May 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  16. "New deals for Blues youngsters". Birmingham City F.C. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  17. "Lineup: Stratford Town 1–1 Solihull Moors". Stratford Town F.C. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  18. Dick, Brian (14 February 2018). "Rising Birmingham City stars given new deals – but former first team youngster set to be released". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  19. McIntyre, David (19 March 2018). "Birmingham youngster joins QPR on trial". West London Sport. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  20. "Yeovil Town: Glovers sign Alex Pattison and Wes McDonald". BBC Sport. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  21. "Games played by Wes McDonald in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  22. "Yeovil Town 2–2 Mansfield Town". BBC Sport. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  23. O'Loughlin, Alex (3 January 2019). "News: McDonald departs". Yeovil Town F.C. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  24. Masi, Joseph (11 July 2019). "Walsall sign Wes McDonald". Express and Star. Wolverhampton. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  25. Keen, Liam (28 September 2019). "Crawley 2 Walsall 3 – Report and pictures". Express and Star. Wolverhampton. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  26. "OFFICIAL: Wes McDonald signs new 18-month contract". 7 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  27. "Games played by Wes McDonald in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
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