Donald Alistair Love (born 2 December 1994) is a 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 defender for club

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

. He began his professional 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 ...

, but made just two senior appearances, and after a loan spell with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

in 2015, he was sold to

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 ...

at the end of the 2015–16 season. Three years into a four-year contract, he was released by the club and joined Shrewsbury Town. Born in England, Love represents Scotland at international level, having played for the under-17, under-19 and under-21 national teams.

Club career

Manchester United and Wigan Athletic (loan)

Love was born in

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, Greater Manchester. He played junior football for Northwich Town and was personally scouted by

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

. After rising through the ranks of the Manchester United academy, he first signed a professional contract with Manchester United in 2013. On 2 October 2015, he was loaned to

for two months. Love made his professional debut the following day, appearing as a 70th-minute substitute for

Will Grigg William Donald Grigg (born 3 July 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL League One club Milton Keynes Dons. Grigg began his professional career at Walsall and came to prominence during the 2012–13 season, winni ...

in a goalless

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 ...

draw with

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

at the

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

. Love totalled eight appearances for the Latics. After returning from his loan spell, Love made his Manchester United debut in a 2–1 defeat against

at the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

on 13 February 2016, coming on as a first-half substitute for the injured

Matteo Darmian Matteo Darmian (born 2 December 1989) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for club Inter Milan. He began his career at A.C. Milan, making his senior debut in 2006 at the age of 16 and Serie A debut in 2007 at the age ...

. Five days later, he made his first start in an injury-stricken United team, a 2–1 loss away to

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

in the first leg of the

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 ...

round of 32, and was booked for a challenge on Martin Pušić that caused the Austrian to be substituted.

Sunderland

On 11 August 2016, Love joined Premier League club

on a four-year deal. He joined with his Manchester United teammate

Paddy McNair Patrick James Coleman McNair (born 27 April 1995) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender or a midfielder for Championship club Middlesbrough and the Northern Ireland national team. McNair signed for Manchester Unit ...

, for a combined fee of £5.5 million. He made his debut two days later, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–1 loss at

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 ...

, and scored his first goal for Sunderland in an

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 ...

tie against

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 ...

on 22 August 2017. In August 2018, Love sustained an injury to his ankle which, after attempting to continue playing for another three matches, kept him out of first-team action for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. After three years, a year before the end of his contract, Love was released by Sunderland in July 2019.

Shrewsbury Town

Following his release from Sunderland, on 12 July 2019, Love signed for fellow

side

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

on a two-year deal. He made his debut on 3 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 home win over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. On 13 November, after coming on in the 67th minute for

Louis Thompson Louis Clyde William Thompson (born 19 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive-midfielder for club Stevenage. He is a former Wales U21 international. His brother Nathan is a professional footballer who plays wi ...

in a 3–1 win over

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

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 ...

group stage, he was sent off. On 26 January 2020, in the fourth round of the FA Cup at home 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 ...

, Love drove

Neco Williams Neco Shay Williams (born 13 April 2001) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Premier League club Nottingham Forest and the Wales national team. Club career Liverpool Williams joined the academy of Liverpool at th ...

' cross into his own net in the first minute of the second half to give Liverpool a 2–0 lead, though Shrewsbury drew the match 2–2 to earn a replay. On 12 May 2021 it was announced that he would leave Shrewsbury at the end of the season, following the expiry of his contract.

Salford City

On 31 August 2021, he signed a one-year contract with

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 ...

side Salford City, with manager

Gary Bowyer Gary David Bowyer (born 22 June 1971) is an English professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Scottish club Dundee. As a player, he made 52 league appearances for Hereford United, Nottingham Forest and Rotherham United ...

signing him to provide competition in various positions.

Morecambe

On 17 June 2022, Love agreed to join League One club

on a two-year deal upon the expiration of his contract with Salford City.

International career

Love was born in Rochdale, England but qualifies for the Scotland national team through his

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

-born grandmother. He has represented Scotland at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Donald 1994 births Living people Footballers from Rochdale English men's footballers Scottish men's footballers English people of Scottish descent Men's association football fullbacks Manchester United F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Salford City F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers