Bradley Jamie Ethan Young (born 6 January 2003) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

club

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

. Young is a product of the

Aston Villa Academy The Aston Villa Under-21s, formerly known as Aston Villa Reserves and Aston Villa Under-23s, are the most senior youth development team of Aston Villa and compete in Premier League 2 (Division 2) of the Professional Development League, the Pr ...

, being part of the side that won the 2020-21

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

, he also spent time with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

as a junior. He made one senior appearance for Aston Villa in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in 2021 and played senior football on loan at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

and

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

before moving to The New Saints in 2023.

Career

Early career

Having been on the books of

before being released at age 12, he joined

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

after a spell playing MJPL football for FDC academy and became a regular at U18 and then U23 level. He made his senior debut as a substitute in a 4–1

defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 8 January 2021. Young was a part of the Aston Villa team that won the 2020-21

- scoring a penalty in the 2–1 final victory over Liverpool U18s on 24 May 2021, he scored six goals across the tournament, only bettered by his teammate

Carney Chukwuemeka Carney Chibueze Chukwuemeka (born 20 October 2003) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Chelsea. A product of the Northampton Town and Aston Villa academies, he made his debut for the latter club's first team ...

's seven. On 7 July 2021, he was one of several young players who signed a new contract with Aston Villa.

Loans

On 16 August 2021, Young joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

team

on a season-long loan. He made his football league debut the following day, as a substitute in a goalless draw against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

. On 28 September 2021, Young scored his first goals for Carlisle United - scoring twice in a 2–0 victory over Everton U21 in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

. Young returned to Aston Villa from his loan early on 4 January 2022, after the two clubs mutually agreed that Young would not be guaranteed enough playing time in the upcoming months. On 1 September 2022, Young joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

club

on a season-long loan. Young scored his first professional league goal on 17 September, in a 3–2 defeat to

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

. On 17 January 2023, Young's loan was cut short and he returned to Aston Villa. On 16 June 2023, Young was released by Aston Villa. In July 2023, Young had a trial with

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

, however the club opted against offering him a contract.

The New Saints

On 2 September 2023, Young signed for

club

. On 8 September, Young made his debut for the club, coming off the bench to score in a 3–0 win over Hibernian U21 in the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Bala Town Bala Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Bala) is a Welsh football team from Bala, Gwynedd, who play in the Cymru Premier. They play their home games at Maes Tegid. History For a full history see; '' List of Bala Town FC seasons'' Al ...

. On 22 September, Young scored his first goals for the club, scoring twice in a 5–1 away league victory over

Cardiff Metropolitan University , image_name = Shield of Cardiff Metropolitan University.svg , image_size = 150px , motto = cy, Gorau Meddiant Gwybodaeth , mottoeng = The most valuable possession is knowledge , established = 2011 – Car ...

. On 21 October 2023, Young scored his first career hattrick in a 6–2 league victory over Barry Town United, meaning he had scored 9 goals in his first 10 games in Welsh football. On 20 January 2024, Young won the first senior trophy of his career, scoring a goal in a 5–1 victory over Swansea City U21s in the final of the

Welsh League Cup The Cymru Premier League Cup, currently known as the Nathaniel MG Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a cup competition in Welsh football organised by the Cymru Premier. The competition was established in 1992 and is considered to be the second-mos ...

. On 21 April 2024, The New Saints completed an unbeaten season to win the Cymru Premier. Young won the Cymru Premier Golden Boot despite joining the league one month into the season.

Personal life

Young was hospitalised in June 2020, at the age of 17, after being the victim of a stabbing in a

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

park. He made a full recovery and was able to play again for the Aston Villa academy the same season.

Career statistics

Honours

Aston Villa U18 *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

The New Saints *

: 2023–24 *

: 2023–24 Individual *

Player of the Month: January 2024 * Cymru Premier Golden Boot: 2023–24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Brad 2003 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Aston Villa F.C. players English victims of crime Carlisle United F.C. players English Football League players Ayr United F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players The New Saints F.C. players Cymru Premier players