scottish football player

Stuart Armstrong ( behave 30 March 1992 ) is a scots professional football player who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Southampton and the Scotland home team. Armstrong began his career with Dundee United, making his debut in 2010 and went on to make about 150 appearances. Armstrong moved to Celtic in February 2015, and helped them win four Scottish league championships and straight domestic trebles. He then moved to Premier League golf club Southampton in June 2018.

Armstrong represented Scotland at under-19 and under-21 grade, then made his fully international debut in 2017. He was voted as the SFWA Young Player of the class in 2013 and has been named in the PFA Scotland Team of the class for the scottish Premiership three times. He was besides nominate doubly for the PFA Scotland Young Player of the class .

early life [edit ]

Born in Inverness, Armstrong attended Hazlehead Academy in Aberdeen, [ 3 ] aboard fellow footballer Fraser Fyvie. [ 4 ] Armstrong grew up idolizing Gianfranco Zola. [ 5 ]

Club career [edit ]

early on career [edit ]

Armstrong played for Dyce Boys Club and the Inverness Caledonian Thistle youth team, before signing professionally with Dundee United in July 2009. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]

Dundee United [edit ]

Armstrong made his inaugural team debut for Dundee United in November 2010, coming on as a stand-in in a 1–0 winnings over Hamilton Academical. [ 8 ] Two months later, on 12 January 2011, he provided his foremost help, crossing for David Goodwillie to score as his side won 2–0 against Motherwell. [ 9 ] Throughout the rest of the season, Armstrong was in and out of the team, making twelve appearances. Manager Peter Houston praised Armstrong on his substitute function. [ 10 ]
The next season, Armstrong swapped between starting and coming off the bench as an affect substitute. In a match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, on 10 December 2011, he provided a double help, in the second-half, to make a rejoinder gain, which his side won 3–2. Armstrong then scored his first finish for United in a 2–2 reap against St Mirren in December 2011. [ 11 ] After the equal, Armstrong says scoring his first goal was his first proper rap, having scored but it was deflected against Inverness. [ 4 ]
The next season, Armstrong made his european debut in the Europa League third gear qualifying beat, moment leg, which ended in a 5–0 loss against russian side Dynamo Moscow. After making six appearances this season, Armstrong agreed a three-year contract with Dundee United in September 2012. [ 12 ] Armstrong signed a new contract with United in October 2012. [ 13 ] Armstrong scored his first goal of the season on 24 November, in a 2–1 succeed over Ross County. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] In mid-December, Armstong provided two assists in consecutive matches against Dundee and Inverness. Having made six appearances in February, Armstrong was awarded Clydesdale Bank Premier League Young Player of the Month. [ 16 ] Armstrong was nominated for SPFA young actor of the year, [ 17 ] but it was awarded to Hibernian ‘s Leigh Griffiths. [ 18 ] He did, however, go on to win the SFWA Young Player of the Year award. [ 19 ]
In the 2013–14 temper, Armstrong started his season well, scoring goals against Hibernian and St Johnstone. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] Armstrong and Dundee United began negotiations over a new condense [ 22 ] and on 12 December, he signed a annual contract reference. [ 23 ] Armstrong expressed an ambition to play in England in the future, but said he was happy to wait until he had established himself in the first team. [ 5 ] In the January 2014 remove windowpane, Celtic were matter to in some of Dundee United ‘s early youngsters. [ 24 ] This was late dismissed as “ guess ” by Celtic director Neil Lennon. [ 25 ] In April 2014, he was nominated for the 2013–14 PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year prize. [ 26 ] He was besides selected to the 2013–14 Premiership PFA Scotland Team of the Year. [ 27 ]
Armstrong scored once and claimed two assists in November 2014 in wins over Kilmarnock [ 28 ] and Motherwell. [ 29 ] Armstrong scored twice more in league victories in December 2014 against Ross County [ 30 ] and Celtic. [ 31 ] He besides registered assists in back-to-back matches in December 2014, in the get the better of of Celtic [ 31 ] and then the league defeat to St Johnstone [ 32 ] In January 2015, Armstrong claimed a far two league goals and three assists in victories against Dundee [ 33 ] and Hamilton Accies [ 34 ] and another league goal in a draw with St Mirren. [ 35 ] His survive match for Dundee United came in a New Firm derby defeat of Aberdeen in a 2014–15 scots League Cup semi-final on 31 January 2015. [ 36 ] Armstrong made 150 appearances, starting 109 matches, and scored 22 goals in all competitions for Dundee United before joining Celtic. [ 36 ] [ 37 ]

celtic [edit ]

In January 2015, Dundee United turned down two transmit offers from Celtic for Armstrong, [ 38 ] however the transfer was completed on 2 February 2015, aboard companion Dundee United player Gary Mackay-Steven. [ 39 ] Armstrong denied requesting the transfer. [ 40 ] Both players would be ineligible for the remaining scots Cup and Scottish League Cup ties as Celtic chased a domestic triple. [ 39 ] Armstrong and Mackay-Steven were subsequently given the nickname Zig and Zag by the staff at Celtic. [ 41 ]
Armstrong play for Celtic in 2017 Armstrong scored on his celtic introduction in a 3–0 league victory at Partick Thistle on 11 February 2015. [ 42 ] He gave Celtic a 2–0 lead after chap debutante Gary Mackay-Steven opened the score. [ 42 ] Armstrong made his celtic Park and european debut in a 3–3 draw with Inter Milan in the UEFA Europa League on 19 February 2015. [ 43 ] [ 44 ]
Armstrong made his inaugural appearance of the 2015–16 season, in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round first leg bind against Stjarnan, assisting the moment finish in a 2–0 home plate acquire. [ 45 ] [ 46 ] He scored his first goals of the season with a second-half brace, in a 4–2 league winnings against Inverness CT on 15 August. [ 47 ] [ 48 ] He claimed assists in back-to-back matches in January, in wins against Dundee United and Hamilton, the latter resultant role was an 8–1 home victory, the biggest recorded league succeed since the formation of the scots Premiership in 2013. [ 49 ] [ 50 ] His following goal came in a 3–1 league defeat of St Johnstone four days subsequently. [ 51 ] [ 52 ]
Armstrong enjoyed a generative 2016–17 season, scoring 17 goals in all competitions as Celtic won a domestic double. [ 53 ]

Celtic won a second consecutive domestic soprano in 2017–18, but Armstrong ‘s season was interrupted by injuries. [ 53 ] [ 54 ] In June 2018, Celtic agreed a £7 million transfer fee for Armstrong with Premier League club Southampton. [ 53 ]

Southampton [edit ]

Armstrong signed a four-year shrink with Southampton in June 2018. [ 55 ] [ 56 ] He said he wanted to “ hit the ground running ” at the club. [ 57 ] On 12 August 2018, Armstrong made his debut in a 0-0 withdraw against Burnley in the Premier League. [ 58 ] In November 2018 he stated that he did not miss Scottish football. [ 59 ] On 24 November, Armstrong scored his beginning goal for Southampton in a 3-2 defeat against Fulham in the league. [ 60 ] It was announced on 1 January 2021 that Armstrong had signed a new three-and-a-half year contract with Southampton, which will run to the summer of 2024. [ 61 ]

International career [edit ]

Armstrong represented Scotland at under-19 and under-21 levels. [ 62 ] [ 63 ] On 21 May 2013, Armstrong was called up for the senior team, along with his Dundee United teammate Gary Mackay-Steven. [ 64 ] He was called up again by the national team in August 2015, [ 65 ] and again in March 2017. [ 66 ] Armstrong made his full international debut on 26 March 2017, in a 1–0 succeed against Slovenia. [ 67 ] National team coach Gordon Strachan called it “ the best scotland debut I have ever seen. ” [ 68 ] In September 2017 he was ruled out of two 2018 World Cup qualifying games through injury. [ 54 ] In October 2020 he pulled out of the Scotland team for a UEFA Euro 2020 qualification play-off semi-final against Israel after testing positivist for COVID-19. [ 69 ] In May 2021 he was selected to the Scotland police squad for the check UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. [ 70 ]

personal life [edit ]

In 2014, Armstrong was studying for a police academic degree through the Open University in his spare clock. [ 71 ] [ 72 ]

career statistics [edit ]

golf club [edit ]

As of match played 28 December 2021

International [edit ]

As of match played 22 June 2021[85]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Scotland 2017 4 1
2018 7 0
2019 8 1
2020 3 0
2021 6 0
Total 28 2
As of match played 22 June 2021. Scotland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Armstrong goal.[85]

Honours [edit ]

Celtic [ 88 ]
Individual

References [edit ]