Jerome Sinclair

Jerome Sinclair

Sinclair playing for CSKA in 2020
Personal information
Full name	Jerome Terence Sinclair [1]
Date of birth	(1996-09-20) 20 September 1996 (age 28) [2]
Place of birth	Birmingham, [2] England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.81 m) [3]
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
2006–2011	West Bromwich Albion
2011–2012	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2012–2016	Liverpool	2	(0)
2015	→ Wigan Athletic (loan)	1	(0)
2016–2021	Watford	9	(0)
2017	→ Birmingham City (loan)	5	(0)
2018	→ Sunderland (loan)	13	(1)
2019	→ Oxford United (loan)	16	(4)
2019–2020	→ VVV-Venlo (loan)	23	(0)
2020–2021	→ CSKA Sofia (loan)	18	(1)
Total		87	(6)
International career
2011–2012	England U16	5	(3)
2012	England U17	5	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jerome Terence Sinclair (born 20 September 1996) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England up to under-17 level.

Jerome spent his youth at West Bromwich Albion and Liverpool, making his senior debut for the latter at the age of 16 years and 6 days in 2012, their youngest player of all time. He went on to make four further appearances for Liverpool after a brief loan spell at Wigan Athletic where he appeared just once. He signed for Watford in July 2016 for a fee of £4 million. He spent the second half of the 2016–17 season on loan to Championship club Birmingham City and the following season on loan at Sunderland and then to Oxford United. He then had loan spells abroad, with VVV-Venlo and CSKA Sofia before leaving Watford when his contract expired at the end of the 2020–21 season. ^[4]

Early life

Sinclair was born in Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham, and raised in the Quinton district. ^[5] He began playing organised football as a seven-year-old with Phoenix United, part of a scheme designed to use sport to keep youngsters off the streets and promote positive values. He was spotted while playing for Phoenix United, invited to a trial with West Bromwich Albion, and joined that club as a schoolboy at the age of eight. ^[6] As a boy, he supported Arsenal and idolised Thierry Henry. ^[7] When Sinclair joined Liverpool's youth academy, his father moved to Liverpool with him, while his mother, sister and four brothers remained at home in Birmingham. ^[8] While with West Brom, he had attended Sandwell Academy; ^{[9] [10]} as customary with Liverpool's academy recruits, he continued his education at Rainhill High School in St Helens. ^[11] He got good grades in his GCSEs, ^[8] and went on to study for an A level in business studies. ^[12]

Club career

Liverpool

Academy

Liverpool signed Sinclair as a 14-year-old from the West Bromwich Albion youth academy in the summer of 2011. ^[13] The Liverpool staff compared him to Raheem Sterling. ^[14] He spent most of the 2011–12 season with the Under-16s before coach Mike Marsh gave him a run of four games with the Under-18s at the end of the season. He impressed greatly in those games, though he failed to find the back of the net. On 14 July 2012, Sinclair came off the bench to score a hat-trick against Exeter City in an Under-18s pre-season friendly. In all, Sinclair netted eight goals in the six Under-18s pre-season friendly games in the run up to the 2012–13 Academy Under-18s season. He went on to score his first competitive goal for the Under-18s on 25 August 2012, hitting a brace in a 3–3 draw with Crystal Palace.^{[ citation needed ]}

Reserves and first-team debut

While still only 15, Sinclair was called up to Rodolfo Borrell's NextGen Series side for the away match with defending champions Inter Milan in September 2012, after first-team manager Brendan Rodgers included a number of young players in his Europa League squad. He started the match and performed well, winning a penalty that Krisztián Adorján converted and going close himself on more than one occasion. ^[15] Rodgers called Sinclair up to the first team for the League Cup third-round tie away to his boyhood club, West Bromwich Albion, on 26 September. At the age of 16 years and 6 days, he came off the bench in the 81st minute to replace Samed Yeşil in the 2–1 win at The Hawthorns, thus breaking Jack Robinson's record as Liverpool's youngest ever player. ^[16] For the remainder of the 2012–13 season Sinclair continued to play for Liverpool U18s, but his 2013–14 season was disrupted by injury. ^[17]

Up to the beginning of March 2015, Sinclair scored 22 goals for Liverpool youth teams at various levels,^{[ citation needed ]} including 6 goals in 7 UEFA Youth League games ^[18] as well as an impressive finish against Manchester United U21, beating Víctor Valdés at his near post, ^[19] and a solo effort against Chelsea U21. ^[17] He was one of several youngsters to travel to a Europa League tie against Beşiktaş in February, but was not included in the matchday squad as Liverpool were eliminated on penalties. ^[20]

On 16 March 2015, Sinclair was loaned to Championship side Wigan Athletic, where he linked up with academy teammate Sheyi Ojo. ^[21] The next day, he made his Football League debut in what proved to be his only Wigan appearance, replacing Marc-Antoine Fortuné for the final eight minutes of a 2–0 loss to Watford at the DW Stadium. ^[22] On returning to Liverpool, Sinclair made his Premier League debut as a 68th-minute substitute for Rickie Lambert in a 1–1 draw away to champions Chelsea on 10 May. ^[23]

On his first appearance of the 2015–16 season, away to Exeter City in the FA Cup on 8 January 2016, Sinclair scored his first senior goal for Liverpool in a 2–2 draw. ^[24] Ten days later he confirmed that he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season, suggesting that he wanted to play in Spain. ^[25] In April, an offer from AFC Bournemouth of £4 million plus add-ons was accepted by the club but rejected by the player. ^[26]

Watford

In the January 2016 transfer window, Liverpool had rejected an offer of £1.5 million for Sinclair from Premier League club Watford. On 21 May, Sinclair agreed to join that club when his current contract expired. ^[27] Because Sinclair was aged under 24, Liverpool were due a developmental fee; the clubs settled on £4 million, and Sinclair signed a five-year contract. ^[28] He did not make his debut until 3 December, as a 94th-minute substitute in a defeat by West Bromwich Albion, ^[29] and made his first start a few days later against Manchester City, a match in which City won at home for the first time since mid-September and BBC Sport's reporter described Sinclair as "a peripheral figure". ^[30] An approach in late December by Championship club Brentford to take him on loan was rebuffed because manager Walter Mazzarri felt he was needed as cover, ^[31] and Sinclair scored his first goal for Watford in their FA Cup third-round tie against Burton Albion on 7 January 2017. ^[32] Towards the end of the transfer window, Mazzarri stated that Sinclair needed to gain experience and was free to go out on loan if he so wished. ^[33]

Birmingham City (loan)

On 31 January 2017, Sinclair moved to Championship club Birmingham City on loan until the end of the season. ^[34] He went straight into the starting eleven for the next match, at home to Fulham, partnering Lukas Jutkiewicz, and was replaced after 67 minutes with the score still goalless; Birmingham won the match 1–0. ^[35] He appeared regularly during February, but the last of his five appearances came as a very late substitute in a home defeat against Leeds United on 3 March. ^[36]

Sunderland (loan)

Having played just 27 minutes of Premier League football for his parent club in the 2017–18 season, ^[37] Sinclair joined Sunderland, newly relegated to League One, on loan for the 2018–19 season, ^[38] but the loan was cut short by mutual agreement in January 2019. ^[39]

Oxford United (loan)

On transfer deadline day in January 2019, Oxford United announced that they had signed Sinclair on loan until the end of the 2018–19 season. ^[40] His first Oxford goals came in a 2–1 home victory over Scunthorpe United on 2 March 2019, in which he scored both Oxford goals. ^[41]

VVV-Venlo (loan)

He signed for Dutch club VVV-Venlo on loan, for the 2019–20 season. ^[42]

CSKA Sofia (loan)

Sinclair moved to CSKA Sofia on 5 October 2020 on a one-year loan. ^[43]

As a free agent

After a year without a club, Sinclair rejoined Oxford on a trial basis during the 2022–23 pre-season, playing his first match in over a year in a friendly against Banbury United. ^[44] However, he did not earn a contract, and by January 2023, he appeared to have stepped away from football to focus on other business interests, including owning a branch of fried chicken chain Morley's. ^[45]

International career

Sinclair has represented England at under-16 and under-17 level. He made his under-16 debut on 27 October 2011, ^[46] and scored as England beat Wales 4–0 in the 2011 Victory Shield. ^[47] He also scored twice in the 2012 Montaigu Tournament, earning England wins against host nation France, and Morocco. ^[48] He scored his first goal for the under-17 team on 31 August 2012, opening the scoring in a 4–1 win against Turkey. ^[49] He played twice in the 2013 European U17 Championship qualifying round matches in Estonia, ^[50] and was selected for the elite round of qualifying but had to withdraw from the squad because of injury. ^[51]

Career statistics

As of end of 2020–21 season

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup [a]		League Cup [b]		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Liverpool	2012–13 [52]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	2013–14 [53]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2014–15 [54]	Premier League	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	2015–16 [55]	Premier League	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
	Total		2	0	2	1	1	0	0	0	5	1
Wigan Athletic (loan)	2014–15 [54]	Championship	1	0	—		—		—		1	0
Watford	2016–17 [36]	Premier League	5	0	2	1	0	0	—		7	1
	2017–18 [56]	Premier League	4	0	1	0	0	0	—		5	0
	2020–21 [57]	Championship	0	0	0	0	2	0	—		2	0
	Total		9	0	3	1	2	0	—		14	1
Birmingham City (loan)	2016–17 [36]	Championship	5	0	—		—		—		5	0
Sunderland (loan)	2018–19 [58]	League One	13	1	3	0	0	0	3 [c]	1	19	2
Oxford United (loan)	2018–19 [58]	League One	16	4	—		—		—		16	4
VVV-Venlo (loan)	2019–20 [37]	Eredivisie	23	0	1	0	—		—		24	0
CSKA Sofia (loan)	2020–21 [37]	First League	18	1	5	2	—		4 [d]	0	27	3
Career total			87	6	14	4	3	0	7	1	111	11

1. Includes FA Cup, KNVB Cup, Bulgarian Cup
2. Includes Football League Cup
3. Appearances in EFL Trophy
4. Appearances in UEFA Europa League

Honours

CSKA Sofia

• Bulgarian Cup: 2020–21 ^[59]

References

1. "Premier League clubs publish 2019/20 retained lists". Premier League. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
2. "Jerome Sinclair". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
3. "Jerome Sinclair". Watford F.C. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
4. "News: Retain & Release List confirmed". Watford F.C. 18 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
5. McCartney, Aidan (31 January 2017). "Birmingham City's Jerome Sinclair: This is why I couldn't turn Gianfranco Zola down". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
6. "Phoenix United – giving talented kids a goal". BBC Black Country. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
7. Hunter, Steve (13 December 2012). "Meet our NexLions stars: Part two". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
8. Lim, Gary (2 October 2014). "Football: Jerome Sinclair could be the Reds' next star". The New Paper. Singapore. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
9. Bailey, Ashley (Spring 2011). "Sports round-up" (PDF). The Student Voice. Sandwell Academy. p. 23.
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12. Northcroft, Jonathan (28 December 2014). "Soup kitchens to superstars". Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
13. "Liverpool teenager Jerome Sinclair set to become club's youngest ever player aged 16 years and six days". The Daily Telegraph. London. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
14. "Ciss is one for Kenny" . The People. London. 5 June 2011. p. 54. Retrieved 2 February 2017– via Infotrac Newsstand.
15. Back, Adrian (20 September 2012). "Liverpool youngsters edged out by NextGen champions Inter Milan". International Business Times. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
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17. Kelly, Andy (3 March 2015). "Liverpool FC U21s 2–0 Chelsea U21s: Jerome Sinclair could be next Academy graduate heading to first team and Sergi Canos' form going from strength to strength – five things we learned". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
18. "UEFA Youth League: Liverpool FC". UEFA. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
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    Whalley, Mike (26 February 2015). "Besiktas 1–0 Liverpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
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32. "Watford 2–0 Burton Albion". BBC Sport. 7 January 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
33. Mail, Simon (30 January 2017). "Watford willing to let former Liverpool striker Jerome Sinclair leave on loan". Watford Observer. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
34. "Birmingham sign Arsenal's Krystian Bielik and Watford's Jerome Sinclair on loan". BBC Sport. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
35. Dick, Brian (4 February 2017). "Birmingham City 1 Fulham 0 – report, stats and video as Gianfranco Zola picks up first win in charge". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
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39. Smith, Phil (31 January 2019). "Jerome Sinclair looks set for swift Sunderland reunion as he heads for League One rivals". Sunderland Echo. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
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41. "Oxford United 2 Scunthorpe 1". BBC Sport. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
42. Matthews, Anthony (29 June 2019). "Watford forward Jerome Sinclair joins VVV-Venlo on loan". Watford Observer. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
43. "Official: loan moves for Peñaranda and Sinclair". Watford F.C. 5 October 2020. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
44. "Oxford United team news for pre-season friendlies as Jerome Sinclair set to play". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
45. "Jerome Sinclair: The Liverpool prodigy who now owns a fried-chicken takeaway". The Athletic. 7 January 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
46. "Profile: Jerome Sinclair". The Football Association. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
47. King, Dan (27 October 2011). "Gilliead stars in England win". Newcastle United F.C. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
48. Rollin, Glenda & Rollin, Jack, eds. (2012). Playfair Football Annual 2012–2013. London: Headline. p. 409. ISBN   978-0-7553-6357-5.
49. "St George's Park Tournament (U-17 National Team) England 4 Turkey 1". Turkish Football Association. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
50. "UEFA European Under-17 Championship: 2013: Jerome Sinclair". UEFA. 27 October 2012. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012.
51. King, Dan (20 March 2013). "Gilliead called up". Newcastle United F.C. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
52. "Games played by Jerome Sinclair in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
53. "Games played by Jerome Sinclair in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
54. "Games played by Jerome Sinclair in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
55. "Games played by Jerome Sinclair in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
56. "Games played by Jerome Sinclair in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
57. "Games played by Jerome Sinclair in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
58. "Games played by Jerome Sinclair in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
59. "Arda vs. CSKA Sofia 0–1: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 15 January 2023.

External links

• Jerome Sinclair at Premier League
• England profile Archived 4 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine at the Football Association website
• Jerome Sinclair – UEFA competition record ( archive )