Connor Richard John Roberts (born 23 September 1995) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Burnley and the Wales national team. He helped his nation qualify for the FIFA World Cup in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

for the first time since

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, and was included in the squad for the tournament.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

, Roberts grew up in the nearby village of Crynant and joined

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

's Youth Academy at the age of 9. After progressing through the academy, Roberts won the 2014–15 Professional U21 Development League 2 title in his debut professional season and was rewarded with a new two-year contract. Roberts signed a new three-year contract with Swansea City in September 2016. Upon returning from Bristol Rovers, Roberts linked up with Swansea City Under-23s and went on to win the 2016–17 Professional U23 Development League 2 title and

2016–17 Premier League Cup The 2016–17 Premier League Cup is the fourth edition of Premier League Cup (football), the competition, and the first since it was renamed from the U21 Premier League Cup following the age limit being increased to under-23. Participants C ...

Loan moves

On 8 August 2015, Roberts joined League Two club Yeovil Town on a one-month loan deal, and made his debut later that day in a 3–2 defeat against Exeter City. Roberts quickly established himself at

Huish Park Huish Park is a football stadium located in Yeovil, Somerset, England. The stadium has been home to Yeovil Town F.C. since its completion in 1990, following their relocation from Huish. Huish Park has a capacity of 9,565 (of which two stands are ...

, and the Glovers extended Roberts' loan contract to the end of the 2015–16 season. Roberts made 54 appearances for Yeovil over the course of the season, missing just one match due to a call-up to the Wales under-21 national team. Roberts received three Player of the Year Awards and was also voted Young Player of the Year. In August 2016, Roberts joined League One club Bristol Rovers on a six-month loan deal. Roberts made his debut in a 3–2 victory over Northampton Town on 1 October 2016, and made a further four appearances for the Pirates before returning to Swansea. On 14 July 2017, it was announced that Roberts would be joining Championship club Middlesbrough on a season-long loan deal. After making one league appearance his loan spell was terminated in January and he returned to Swansea City.

Swansea City

Roberts made his debut for Swansea City on 6 January 2018 in the FA Cup third round against Wolverhampton Wanderers. On 29 September, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 win over Queens Park Rangers. On 3 June 2021, Roberts was named Swansea City Player of the Year for the 2020–21 season.

Burnley

On 31 August 2021, Roberts joined Premier League side Burnley for an undisclosed fee signing a four-year deal. On 23 April 2013 Roberts was named in the EFL Championship Team of the Season.

International career

Roberts has been capped at Wales under-19 level. In March 2016, Roberts received his first call-up to the Wales under-21 side for their

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition was a men's under-21 football competition that determined the 11 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Poland in the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship tournament ...

matches, and made his debut as a second-half substitute in their 2–1 defeat against Romania, on 29 March 2016. He was called into the Wales national football team for the first time on 15 March 2018. He made his senior international debut in the China Cup final against Uruguay in March 2018 when he came on as a 59th minute substitute for Declan John. Roberts scored his first goal for the senior team in a 4–1 victory over the Republic of Ireland on 6 September 2018, finishing a half-volley set up by

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

. In May 2021, he was selected for the Wales squad for the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. On 16 June, Roberts scored the second goal in a 2–0 win against Turkey, once again assisted by Bale. On 26 June, Roberts' participation in the tournament ended due to a groin injury sustained in the first half, and Wales went on to lose 4–0 to Denmark. In November 2022 he was named in the Wales squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

in Qatar.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 13 November 2021. Wales' score listed first, score column indicates score after each Roberts goal.''

Honours

Swansea City U23 * Premier League Cup: 2016–17 Burnley *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

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Individual * EFL Championship Team of the Season:

* Swansea City Player of the Year:

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Connor 1995 births Living people Footballers from Neath Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Swansea City A.F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Burnley F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players