Jamal Lewis (footballer)

Jamal Piaras Lewis (born 25 January 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back for EFL Championship club Watford, on loan from Premier League club Newcastle United. Born in England, he plays for the Northern Ireland national team.

Jamal Lewis
Lewis playing for Norwich City in 2018
Personal information
Full name Jamal Piaras Lewis[1]
Date of birth (1998-01-25) 25 January 1998[2]
Place of birth Luton, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Left-back
Team information
Current team
 Watford
(on loan from Newcastle United)
Number 6
Youth career
2009–2013 Luton Town
2014–2016 Norwich City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2020 Norwich City 92 (1)
2020– Newcastle United 31 (0)
2023– → Watford (loan) 6 (0)
International career‡
2016 Northern Ireland U19 3 (0)
2017 Northern Ireland U21 1 (0)
2018– Northern Ireland 32 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:49, 7 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:19, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Early life

When he was young, Lewis was a talented athlete competing at national level for his age-group over 800m and 1500m.[3] He represented England Schools in athletics[3][4] and finished second in the English Schools' U17 cross-country in 2014.[5]

Club career

Luton Town

Lewis started his football career as a youth player with his home-town club Luton Town,[5] with whom he won the Aarau Masters, a European 5-a-side Under-11 Championship in 2009.[6] He left Luton Town in 2013 to focus on his prospects as a national-level 800-metre runner.[7]

Norwich City

Lewis returned to professional football in 2014, signing for Norwich City.[5]

During the 2016–17 season, he played for the Norwich U23 team.[8] At the end of the 2016–17 season, Lewis signed a new contract until 2021.[8] In December 2017, Lewis made his senior debut for Norwich City against Brentford, coming on as a substitute for Marco Stiepermann.[9] On Boxing Day 2017, he made his first start for Norwich against Birmingham City.[10] He scored his first senior goal in the 93rd minute of an FA Cup third round replay against Chelsea in January 2018.[11]

Lewis was named the EFL Young Player of the Month for September 2018,[3] and in October 2018, he was rewarded with a new long-term contract which ran until June 2023.[12]

In March 2019 he was named in the 2018–19 PFA Championship Team of the Year, alongside team-mates Max Aarons and Teemu Pukki.[13] Lewis made 28 appearances for Norwich City in the 2019–20 Premier League.[14] In August 2020, Norwich rejected a £10 million bid from Liverpool for Lewis.[15]

Newcastle United

Lewis signed a five-year contract with Newcastle United on 8 September 2020.[16] His performances though were often unconvincing and he quickly fell out of favour, so much so that in January 2022 he was omitted from the 25-player squad list for the remainder of the season.[17]

Watford (loan)

On 27 July 2023, Championship side Watford announced the signing of Lewis from Newcastle on a season-long loan, with a future option to make the move permanent.[18]

International career

Though born in England, Lewis was eligible to play for Northern Ireland through his Belfast-born mother.[1] He first represented the country in 2016, making three appearances for the U19 team.[1] In June 2017, he was called up to the U21 team and made his U21 debut against Estonia.[19]

In March 2018, he was called up to the Northern Ireland senior squad for the first time.[20] He made his senior international debut in a 2–1 friendly win over South Korea on 24 March 2018.[21]

On 9 October 2021, Lewis was sent off in the first half in an eventual 2–0 loss to Switzerland. His first yellow was for a rash challenge on Breel Embolo, but his second was for timewasting after he struggled to find a teammate from a throw-in. Manager Ian Baraclough said that the decision to send Lewis off was "diabolical" and it changed the course of the game.[22][23]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 7 October 2023
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Norwich City 2016–17[24] Championship 000000—00
2017–18[25] Championship 2202100—241
2018–19[26] Championship 4200020—440
2019–20[27] Premier League 2814000—321
Total 9216120—1002
Newcastle United 2020–21[28] Premier League 2400020—260
2021–22[29] Premier League 500010—60
2022–23[30] Premier League 201010—40
Total 3101040—360
Watford (loan) 2023–24[31] Championship 600000—60
Total 600000—60
Career total 12917160—1422

    International
    As of match played 17 October 2023[32]
    Appearances and goals by national team and year
    National teamYearAppsGoals
    Northern Ireland 201860
    201960
    202060
    202180
    202220
    202340
    Total320

    Honours

    Norwich City

    Individual

    References
    1. Hanna, Gareth (21 March 2018). "Who is Jamal Lewis? Watch the Northern Ireland international net his first senior goal against Chelsea". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
    2. "Jamal Lewis". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
    3. Law, James (19 October 2018). "Jamal Lewis: Norwich City left-back wins EFL Young Player of the Month award". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
    4. Luney, Graham (21 March 2018). "How Jamal Lewis' athletics stardom helped the Luton lad become a Northern Ireland international". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    5. Freezer, David (25 July 2018). "Canaries star so nearly joined Brentford before athletics intervened in his Luton development". Eastern Daily Press. Norwich. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    6. Fisher, Ben (12 December 2008). "Luton aim high once again after building on their talented reserves". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    7. Freezer, David (25 July 2018). "Ex-academy boss confident former Luton prospects will shine for Canaries". Eastern Daily Press. Norwich. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    8. "Jamal Lewis signs new deal with the Canaries". Norwich City F.C. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
    9. Freezer, David (23 December 2017). "Lewis aims to 'make an impact' for Canaries following his first-team debut". Eastern Daily Press. Norwich. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
    10. Bailey, Michael (27 December 2017). "'We just complement each other' – Positive impact of one City star rubs off on another". Eastern Daily Press. Norwich. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
    11. Begley, Emlyn (17 January 2018). "Chelsea 1–1 Norwich City (5–3 pens)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
    12. "Jamal Lewis signs new contract at Norwich City". Norwich City F.C. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
    13. "EFL awards: Che Adams, Teemu Pukki & Billy Sharp on Championship shortlist". BBC Sport. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
    14. "Jamal Lewis: Newcastle sign Norwich full-back on five-year deal". BBC Sport. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    15. Sanghera, Mandeep (6 August 2020). "Jamal Lewis: Liverpool's £10m offer rejected by Norwich City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    16. "Jamal Lewis becomes Newcastle United's fifth summer signing". Newcastle United F.C. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    17. "Newcastle star expresses 'bitter disappointment' at club decision". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
    18. "Official: Hornets Sign Lewis". www.watfordfc.com. 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
    19. Freezer, David (8 June 2017). "Winning debut with Northern Ireland Under-21s for Norwich City left-back Jamal Lewis". The Pink'un. Norwich. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
    20. "Jamal Lewis and Conor Hazard handed first call-ups for Northern Ireland". BBC Sport. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
    21. "Northern Ireland vs. Korea Republic". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
    22. "Switzerland 2–0 Northern Ireland". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
    23. "Switzerland 2-0 Northern Ireland: Ian Baraclough slams 'diabolical' Jamal Lewis red card decision". BBC Sport. 9 October 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
    24. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
    25. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
    26. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    27. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    28. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    29. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
    30. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
    31. "Games played by Jamal Lewis in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
    32. "Lewis, Jamal". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
    33. Anderson, John, ed. (2019). Football Yearbook 2019–2020. London: Headline Publishing Group. pp. 258–259. ISBN 978-1-4722-6111-3.
    34. "Max Aarons, Jamal Lewis and Teemu Pukki named in EFL Team of the Season". Norwich City F.C. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    35. "Championship: Norwich and Leeds dominate PFA selection of team of 2018–19". BBC Sport. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
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