Charlie Martin McNeill (born 9 September 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 club

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

, McNeill started his career with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, who he supported growing up, before leaving for city rivals

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

in 2014. McNeill scored over 600 goals at youth level.

Manchester United

In 2020, Manchester United agreed a deal for McNeill worth a reported £750,000. He continued his prolific form that made him a highly regarded prospect at Manchester City, scoring 24 goals in 21 games in his first season with the United U18 squad. He made his debut for United's first team as a substitute in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

match against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

on 8 September 2022, the day before his 19th birthday. On 5 June 2024, Manchester United announced he was leaving the club to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Newport County loan

On 31 January 2023, McNeill signed for

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 ...

club Newport County on loan until the end of the 2022–23 season. He made his Newport debut in the starting line-up for the League Two 2–1 win against Swindon Town on 4 February 2023. He scored his first goal for Newport in the 3–1 League Two win against Tranmere Rovers on 18 March 2023.

Stevenage loan

In September 2023, McNeil joined

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

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2023–24 season. Having struggled for gametime, he returned to his parent club on 3 January 2024.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 10 July 2024, McNeill joined

on a free transfer. He made his debut in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

against Hull City on 14 August 2024, scoring a brace, with the first after 27 seconds.

Personal life

McNeill was born in England, and is of Irish descent through a grandfather.

Career statistics

Honours

Manchester United U18 *

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 ...

: 2021–22

External links

References

2003 births Living people English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers English people of Irish descent Men's association football forwards Liverpool F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English Football League players People from Droylsden Footballers from Greater Manchester Sportspeople from Tameside (district) {{England-footy-forward-2000s-stub