Demetri Kareem Mitchell (born 11 January 1997) 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 left-back or as a winger for

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. Mitchell is a graduate of the Manchester United youth system and won the

Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year Manchester United Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Manchester United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. They play in the Premier League 2, the highest tier of the Professional Development League. The team is effective ...

award in 2018. He made a single senior appearance for the club, in a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

game in May 2017, and had two spells on loan at Scottish club Hearts. In September 2020, shortly after being released by United, he joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. In January 2022, he joined Hibernian for an undisclosed fee. Mitchell represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18 and

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

levels. He was a member of the under-17 squad which won the

2014 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship The 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the 13th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, an annual football competition between men's under-17 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament was hosted for the first time ...

Club career

Manchester United

Early career

Mitchell started his youth career with Fletcher Moss Rangers; the same academy where teammates

Cameron Borthwick-Jackson Cameron Jake Borthwick-Jackson (born 2 February 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Scottish club Ross County, on loan from Śląsk Wrocław. Club career Manchester United Born in Manchester, Borthwick-Jac ...

and Marcus Rashford also started their careers. He joined United in 2013, and was originally deployed as a winger for their youth teams. However, after Borthwick-Jackson was loaned to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

for the 2016–17 season, Mitchell was converted to a left-back in his absence. Mitchell was called up to the Manchester United senior squad on 7 May 2017, training with the first team ahead of a

clash with rivals

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, but was not named in the 18-man matchday squad. A week later, he was named among the substitutes in a 2–1 defeat by

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, but again did not feature. He made his senior debut in the final game of the season, starting against Crystal Palace. The following season, Mitchell played in thirteen

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

fixtures, before going out on loan to Hearts.

Loan to Hearts

On 11 January 2018, Mitchell was loaned to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side Hearts until the end of the season. He joined up with the squad at their winter training camp in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Mitchell made his debut for Hearts on 21 January 2018, playing from the start in a 1–0 win over

Edinburgh Derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce r ...

rivals Hibernian at

Tynecastle Park Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as a ...

, in the fourth round of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

. In March, Mitchell returned to United for treatment for an injury to his meniscus tendon and was ruled out until the end of the season. He had first picked up the injury during a match against Ross County in February. Ultimately, he returned to training earlier than expected, playing in two further matches. In all, Mitchell made 11 appearances for Hearts in this spell, scoring once in all competitions.

Second loan to Hearts

Mitchell returned to United for their preseason tour of America in July 2018, and subsequently signed a new contract with the club until 2020. On 28 August 2018, Mitchell was once again loaned to Hearts, this time on a season long loan. On his return, Mitchell stated that he felt he had "unfinished business" at Hearts due to his previous injury. In February 2019, he suffered a recurrence of the injury in a Scottish Cup game against

Auchinleck Talbot Auchinleck Talbot Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Auchinleck, East Ayrshire. They currently play in the . The club is also a member of the Scottish Junior Football Association, and have won the Scottish Junior Cup on a reco ...

, and was ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing an operation.

Recovery from injury

Mitchell returned to training at Manchester United in September 2019, as he continued his recovery from the injury. In June 2020, Manchester United announced that Mitchell would be leaving the club upon the expiration of his contract.

Blackpool

In August 2020, after spending time training with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, Mitchell joined fellow

club

on trial. On 4 September 2020, Blackpool announced that Mitchell had signed a two-year contract with the club, with an option to extend the deal by a further year.

Hibernian

Mitchell joined Scottish club Hibernian for an undisclosed fee on 24 January 2022. On 29 January 2022, Mitchell scored in his first start for Hibernian, in a 3–2 defeat to

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

Exeter City

On 26 January 2023, Mitchell signed for Exeter City on a free transfer. On 26 September 2023, he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over

side Luton Town 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 ...

, though was sent off five minutes later after receiving a second yellow card.

International career

Mitchell has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18 and

levels. He was a member of the England under-17 squad which won the

. He also won the

2017 Toulon Tournament The 2017 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 45ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 45th edition of the Toulon Tournament. The tournament was named after Maurice Revello, who started the tournament in 1967 a ...

, starting in the final against Ivory Coast. In January 2022 Mitchell said that he hoped to represent

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, where his grandparents were born.

Career statistics

Honours

England U17 * UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

England U20 * Toulon Tournament:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual *

: 2017–18 * Darren 'Baby Boy' Byfield Is The Most 2003 Footballer Ever Award for 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the Football Association website
Demetri Mitchell
– Soccerbase {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Demetri 1997 births Living people Footballers from Manchester Men's association football defenders English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Manchester United F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Fletcher Moss Rangers F.C. players English people of Jamaican descent English Football League players Exeter City F.C. players