With U19 striker Reece Grego-Cox making his debut last weekend as a late substitute for QPR against Tottenham, we wondered who the last Irish player to make his professional debut in the Premier League was?
With ever reducing numbers of Irish players moving to English clubs, we were not surprised to find out that the last Irish player to make his debut in the top division in England was former U21 defender Derrick Williams, who came on for Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw with Cox's team QPR in April 2012.
We had to go back to August 2009 to find the last current Irish international to make their debut in the Premier League. Ciaran Clark was given his first start by current Ireland manager Martin O'Neill, again for Aston Villa, in a 2-0 home win against Fulham.
Note: we specifically looked for players who made their debuts in the Premier League, not players who made their debuts for Premier League clubs, but in other competitions, e.g. Anthony Forde made his debut for then Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2011 as a substitute in the League Cup against Northampton, but didn't make his first Premier League appearance until the following November, again as a substitute against Chelsea
No comments:
Post a Comment