Jacob Matthew Ramsey (born 28 May 2001) 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 an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

for club

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 ...

. Ramsey 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 ...

and has represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at youth level; he is currently a member of the under-21 squad. Ramsey played on loan for Doncaster Rovers in 2020 before the

2019–20 EFL League One The 2019–20 EFL League One (referred to as the Sky Betting and Gaming, Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th season of EFL League One, Football League One under its current title and the 28th season under its current league di ...

season was curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic. His younger brother

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

also plays for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

having also come through the Aston Villa academy.

Club career

Ramsey joined the youth academy of

at the age of 6. He was often amongst the smallest players in his age group in youth football and would supplement his football training with boxing training with his father, an ex-professional boxer, in order to build muscle. On 15 January 2019, Ramsey signed a professional contract with Aston Villa. Ramsey caught national attention playing for Aston Villa U18s in the 2018–19

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 ...

, scoring 2 goals in every round, until the Fifth Round. On 2 February 2019, Ramsey was given a straight red card less than ten minutes into Villa's Fifth Round defeat against AFC Bournemouth U18s. While suspended for the youth team, Ramsey joined first team training to "make up the numbers" during a spate of injuries. After training with the first team, Ramsey was selected by manager

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

to be on the bench and then made his professional debut with Aston Villa as a 61st minute substitute in a 2–0 Championship loss to

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 ...

on 16 February 2019. On 1 May 2019, at the Aston Villa End-of-Season awards, Ramsey was named "2018–19 Academy Player of the Season". On 31 January 2020, Ramsey signed for Doncaster Rovers on loan for the remainder of the 2019–20 season. On the same day, he signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with Aston Villa. On 4 February 2020, Ramsey made his Doncaster debut, in a 3–0 away victory over Tranmere Rovers, in which he scored his first two goals in senior football. However, the

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 ...

season was initially postponed and, on 9 June 2020, ended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

and Ramsey re-joined the Aston Villa squad ahead of the resumption of the Premier League. On 15 September 2020, Ramsey was given his first ever start for Aston Villa, in a 3–1 victory over Burton Albion 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 ...

. On 28 September, he made his Premier League debut as a second-half substitute in a 3-0 away win over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. On 12 December, he made his first league start for Villa in a 1–0 away win over

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

rivals

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 ...

. On 9 February 2021, Ramsey signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract with the club. On 22 October 2021, Ramsey scored his first goal for Aston Villa in the Premier League, a late consolation goal in a 3–1 defeat to

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 ...

. Ramsey was voted Aston Villa's player of the month for December 2021 by fans, a month in which he scored his second Premier League goal – a solo run and finish in a 2–0 victory over Norwich City which was also voted goal of the month. On 15 January 2022, Ramsey scored his first goal at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

against

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 ...

. On 9 February, Ramsey scored two goals against Leeds United, marking his first Premier League brace. On 26 April 2022, Ramsey signed a contract extension with Aston Villa, lasting until 2027. On 12 May, at Villa's 2021–22 End Of Season awards, Ramsey was voted Young Player of the Season by supporters, and Player's Player of the Season by his teammates. On 6 November 2022, Ramsey scored an own goal and for Villa in the same game, a 3–1 home victory over Manchester United. After a successful

2022–23 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 ...

season, Ramsey was recognised by the Premier League with the "2022/23 Premier League Academy Graduate" award. At the Aston Villa end of season awards, Ramsey was named Young Player of the Season for the second season running.

International career

Ramsey represented the England U18s at the UAE Sports Chain Cup in March 2019 and the Slovakia Cup in May 2019. On 5 September 2019, Ramsey made his England U19s debut during a 3–1 victory over Greece at St. George's Park. On 13 October 2020, Ramsey made his debut for the England U20s and scored during a 2–0 victory over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

at St. George's Park. On 7 October 2021, Ramsey made his debut for the England U21s during a 2–2 U21 EURO qualifying away draw to

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. On 25 March 2022, Ramsey scored his first goal for England U21s, in a 4–1 victory over Andorra U21s. On 14 June 2023, Ramsey was included in the England squad for the

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2023) will be the 24th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (27th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ...

; a tournament the Young Lions ultimately went on to win, although he missed the final two games due to injury.

Personal life

Ramsey was born in the Great Barr area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and attended the

Barr Beacon School Barr Beacon School, formerly Barr Beacon Language College, is a mixed secondary school in Walsall, England, which acquired Academy status in 2011, when it readopted the school's original name: Barr Beacon School. It takes this name from the ad ...

. His younger brothers are both also footballers,

plays for

having graduated through the Aston Villa academy and Cole is still in the academy set-up there. His father Mark was a professional boxer, who fought future unified light-welterweight world champion

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at li ...

twice early in his career, losing both times on a points decision.

Career statistics

Honours

England U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual *Aston Villa Academy Player of the Season: 2018–19 * Aston Villa Young Player of the Season: 2021–22 2022–23 * Aston Villa Player's Player of the Season: 2021–22 * Premier League Academy Graduate of the Season:

References

External links

Profile
at the Aston Villa F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsey, Jacob 2001 births Living people People from Great Barr Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers English people of Jamaican descent Men's association football midfielders Aston Villa F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Black British sportsmen