english professional football player
Ashley Michael Fletcher ( natural 2 October 1995 ) is an english master football player who plays as a fore for Premier League golf club Watford. Fletcher began his professional career at Manchester United, having previously played at Bolton Wanderers during his young person. He then went on to join Barnsley on loanword in 2016, where he achieved forwarding and silverware, before signing for West Ham United on a unblock transfer. After just one season at the London Stadium, Fletcher relocated to Middlesbrough, where he broke into the first team. furthermore, he has besides briefly played for Sunderland on loan from Middlesbrough, angstrom well as at external flush for the England under-20 team.

early life [edit ]

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 [edit ]

manchester United [edit ]

fletcher joined Bolton Wanderers at the age of nine, before moving to Manchester United at the age of 13. [ 4 ] He signed his beginning professional abridge with Manchester United in May 2014. [ 4 ] Fletcher signed for Barnsley on loan in January 2016. [ 5 ] He scored on his master debut on 9 January 2016, in a 1–1 draw with Fleetwood Town in the Football League Trophy Northern Area Final beginning 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 rival. [ 8 ] On 29 May 2016, he scored the open goal in Barnsley ‘s 3–1 victory in the 2016 Football League One play-off Final against Millwall, helping Barnsley retort to the Championship. [ 9 ] In total Fletcher scored nine goals in 27 games for Barnsley during his spell at the clubhouse. [ 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 clubhouse. [ 11 ]

West Ham United [edit ]

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 kill away to Chelmsford City. [ 13 ] His West Ham debut came on 18 August in the UEFA Europa League when he was introduced as a survive minute stand-in for Andy Carroll in a 3–0 acquire 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 kill to Manchester United, in the EFL Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford. [ 14 ] [ 15 ]

Middlesbrough [edit ]

On 28 July 2017, Fletcher signed for Middlesbrough for a fee of £6.5 million, signing a four-year condense. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] He made his debut on 5 August 2017 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 1–0 kill. [ 18 ] His beginning 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 acquire over Queens Park Rangers on 16 September. [ 20 ] On 31 January 2018, Fletcher made a deadline day switch to Sunderland, signing on lend for the remainder of the temper. [ 21 ] He scored his first goal for Sunderland in a 4–1 acquire at Derby County on 30 March 2018. [ 22 ] Fletcher was a penis of the Sunderland team that suffered delegating to League One at the end of the season, meaning that the clubhouse had suffered two consecutive relegations. [ 23 ] Furthermore, his tenure at the club resulted in him appearing in the Netflix objective serial Sunderland ‘Til I Die, released on 14 December 2018. [ 24 ] During the off-season, Fletcher returned to Middlesbrough, with boyfriend Championship club Hull City expressing their interest in signing the striker. [ 25 ] however, no motion materialised, though their director Nigel Adkins late attempted to sign him again in the winter transfer window. [ 26 ] During his moment 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 newfangled director Jonathan Woodgate. [ 31 ] He scored on the beginning day of the modern 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 fusillade against West Bromwich Albion, which ended in a 2–0 victory in Middlesbrough ‘s privilege. [ 34 ] In April 2021, with his shrink due to end in June, Middlesbrough director Neil Warnock confirmed that Fletcher had turned down a new contract on reduce terms and had left the club with contiguous consequence. [ 35 ]

Watford [edit ]

On 20 May 2021, it was reported Watford had agreed to sign Fletcher on a free transfer. [ 36 ] On 11 June 2021, Fletcher ‘s transfer to Watford was announced, effective from 1 July. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] He scored his first base goal for the clubhouse on his debut in an EFL Cup tie against Crystal Palace on 24 August 2021. [ 39 ]

International career [edit ]

In November 2015, Fletcher made his debut for the England under-20 english, 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 succeed. [ 40 ]

career statistics [edit ]

As of 28 November 2021

Honours [edit ]

Barnsley

References [edit ]

  • England profile at The FA
  • Ashley Fletcher at Soccerbase