Devante Rodney

Devante Darrius Rodney (born 19 May 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for League Two club Port Vale.

Devante Rodney
Personal information
Full name Devante Darrius Rodney[1]
Date of birth (1998-05-19) 19 May 1998
Place of birth Manchester, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[2]
Playing position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Port Vale
Youth career
2007–2013 Manchester City
2013–2017 Sheffield Wednesday
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2018 Hartlepool United 45 (4)
2018–2020 Salford City 19 (1)
2019 → FC Halifax Town (loan) 12 (7)
2019–2020 → Stockport County (loan) 12 (3)
2020 → FC Halifax Town (loan) 8 (5)
2020– Port Vale 0 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:00, 14 March 2020 (UTC)

He spent his youth at the academies at Manchester City and Sheffield Wednesday, before signing with Hartlepool United in January 2017. He made his senior debut four months later and established himself in the first-team in the 2017–18 season. He was sold on to Salford City in June 2018, though spent the second half of the 2018–19 season on loan at National League rivals FC Halifax Town, before returning to Salford to help the club to win promotion into the English Football League with victory in the 2019 play-off final. He spent much of the 2019–20 season out on loan at Stockport County and FC Halifax Town. He signed with Port Vale in July 2020.

Career

Youth career

Rodney began his career in the youth team of Manchester City at the age of nine.[3][4] He remained in Manchester for six years before joining the academy of Sheffield Wednesday.[5]

Hartlepool United

On 6 January 2017, Rodney joined EFL League Two side Hartlepool United.[3][4][5] He was reportedly not one of manager Craig Hignett's main targets and was assigned squad number 38 and sent to play for Sam Collins's reserve team.[6] The club already had an established strike force in Pádraig Amond and Billy Paynter.[7] New manager Dave Jones handed Rodney his professional debut on 1 April, in a 2–0 defeat to Portsmouth at Victoria Park.[8] He scored two goals against Doncaster Rovers on the final day of the 2016–17 season as Hartlepool fought relegation, his goals were almost enough to keep the club up until Mark O'Brien scored a late winner for Newport County against Notts County to send Hartlepool down to the National League.[9]

His next goal came on 14 October 2017, in a 2–1 win at South Shields in the FA Cup; manager Craig Harrison noted that "he’s had some great opportunities in the last four to five games. He could have had five goals to his name by now quite easily".[10] Speaking the following March, new manager Matthew Bates said that Rodney was impressive in training and just needed to translate his hard work into goals.[11] On 17 April, he was sent off for two bookable offences in a 1–0 home win over Leyton Orient.[12] He ended the 2017–18 season with three goals in 22 starts and 22 substitute appearances as "Pools" posted a 15th-place finish and he turned down the club's offer of a new contract in the summer.[13]

Salford City

On 15 June 2018, Rodney signed for newly-promoted National League team Salford City for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £20,000.[14][15][16] In February 2019, he joined league rivals FC Halifax Town on loan for a month.[17] He formed a successful strike partnership with fellow loanee Manny Duku and his loan deal was extended until the end of the 2018–19 season on 30 March.[18][19] He scored seven goals in twelve games for Jamie Fullarton's "Shaymen".[20] He returned to Moor Lane at the end of the loan period and came on as an extra-time substitute in the National League play-off semi-final victory over Eastleigh.[21] He also featured in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium, coming on as a 55th-minute substitute for Gus Mafuta as the "Ammies" beat A.F.C. Fylde 3–0 to secure promotion into the English Football League.[22]

On 8 October 2019, Rodney was loaned back to the National League with Stockport County until January 2020; he had tried to rejoin Halifax but had to instead go to Edgeley Park as a deal could not be arranged.[23][24] He returned to Salford in January 2020 on the expiry of his loan period, having scored three goals in 14 matches playing on the right-wing for Jim Gannon's "Hatters".[7][25] The following day he went out on loan again, returning to FC Halifax Town; manager Pete Wild said that he was "absolutely ecstatic" to secure the player's services ahead of strong competition from other clubs.[26] He enjoyed another successful loan spell at The Shay, scoring five goals in eight games. Rodney was released from his contract at Salford after manager Graham Alexander confirmed he would not be offered a new deal on 17 May.[27] Halifax qualified for the play-offs, due to take place two months late in July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England, but Wild confirmed that Rodney would not be featuring as he was in negotiations to sign for another club.[28]

Port Vale

On 7 July 2020, Rodney signed a three-year contract with League Two side Port Vale; manager John Askey brought him to the club to compete with Tom Pope, Mark Cullen and one yet to be signed player for a first-team place.[29]

Style of play

Rodney is a forward with pace, energy and a high work-rate.[30] Speaking in July 2020, Port Vale manager John Askey said that: "he is strong and quick and he has decent ability as well. There are things in his game he needs to improve, his hold up play and his heading. But his main asset is his pace and strength."[31]

Career statistics
As of match played 14 March 2020
Club statistics
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hartlepool United 2016–17[8] EFL League Two 4200000042
2017–18[20] National League 41221—1[lower-alpha 1]0443
Total 454210010485
Salford City 2018–19[20] National League 16120—6[lower-alpha 2]3244
2019–20[32] EFL League Two 3000000030
Total 191200063274
FC Halifax Town (loan) 2018–19[20] National League 127——00127
Stockport County (loan) 2019–20[20] National League 12310—1[lower-alpha 1]0143
FC Halifax Town (loan) 2019–20[20] National League 85——0085
Port Vale 2020–21[33] EFL League Two 0000000000
Career total 962051008310924
  1. Appearance(s) in the FA Trophy
  2. Appearance(s) in the FA Trophy and National League play-offs

Honours

Salford City

References
  1. "Retained List 2016-17" (PDF). English Football League. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  2. "Devante Rodney seals move to Vale Park". www.port-vale.co.uk. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  3. "Devante Rodney Completes Pools Move". Hartlepool United F.C. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  4. "Devante Rodney profile". Hartlepool United F.C. 4 April 2017. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  5. "Striker Devante Rodney joins Hartlepool from Sheffield Wednesday". Sky Sports. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  6. "Pools get their new hot Rod". Sunderland Echo. 7 January 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  7. Baggaley, Michael (7 July 2020). "Who is Devante Rodney? All about Port Vale's new striker". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  8. "Games played by Devante Rodney in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  9. "Hartlepool United 2-1 Doncaster Rovers - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  10. "Hartlepool United's '˜Hot Rod' Devante Rodney deserved his goal, says Craig Harrison". Hartlepool Mail. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  11. "Consistency the missing piece for Pools striker Rodney | Non League Daily". nonleaguedaily.com. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  12. "Hartlepool United 1-0 Leyton Orient". BBC Sport. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  13. Loughlin, Nick (16 June 2018). "Rodney says chance to leave Hartlepool for Salford was too good". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  14. "Devante Rodney joins Salford City". Salford City F.C. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  15. "Devante Rodney Signs For Salford City". Hartlepool United F.C. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  16. "Salford City: Devante Rodney and Rory Gaffney join the Ammies". BBC Sport. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  17. "Devante Rodney moves to FC Halifax Town on loan". Salford City Football Club. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  18. "Fullarton: Halifax have to box clever without financial muscle | Non League Daily". nonleaguedaily.com. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  19. "Duo Extend Loan Deal". FC Halifax Town. 30 March 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  20. Devante Rodney at Soccerway. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  21. "Salford City 1-1 Eastleigh (Salford win 4-3 on penalties)". BBC Sport. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  22. Rindl, Josef (11 May 2019). "AFC Fylde 0–3 Salford City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  23. "Rodney and Walker join on loan". Stockport County. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  24. "Halifax fans 'perfect' for returning marksman Rodney | Non League Daily". nonleaguedaily.com. 23 January 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  25. "Squad Update". Stockport County. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  26. "FC Halifax Town re-sign Devante Rodney on loan | Non League Daily". Chimp Weekly. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  27. "Salford City Released and Retained List, 2019-2020". Salford City Football Club. 16 May 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  28. Scargill, Tom (20 June 2020). "FC Halifax Town: Shaymen confirm striker Rodney will not be available for play-offs". Halifax Courier. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  29. Baggaley, Michael (7 July 2020). "Port Vale sign former Salford and Man City youth striker Devante Rodney". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  30. Scargill, Tom (27 March 2019). "FC Halifax Town: Rodney happy to stay if loan stay is extended". Halifax Courier. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  31. Baggaley, Michael (7 July 2020). "Port Vale boss John Askey says Devante Rodney deal is smart investment". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  32. "Games played by Devante Rodney in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  33. "Games played by Devante Rodney in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
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