Jake Eastwood (born 3 October 1996) is an English

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for club

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

. Having come through the

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

academy, he signed professional terms and made three first team appearances over a seven year period. He spent time on loan with

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

, Mickleover Sports,

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He joined Grimsby permanently ahead of the 2023–24 season.

Career

Youth

Born in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, Eastwood joined

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

at the age of 10. In his youth, he has spent time on loan with

and Mickleover Sports for first team experience.

Sheffield United

In April 2016, Eastwood was one of four youth players to sign professional terms with Sheffield United. He started the 2017–18 season as deputy to loanee

Jamal Blackman Jamal Clint-Ross Blackman (born 27 October 1993) is an English professional association football, footballer, who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club Exeter City F.C., Exeter City. A product of the Chelsea F.C., C ...

, who himself was signed to cover for injured first team keeper Simon Moore. On 9 August 2017, Eastwood made his senior first-team debut in the

Football League 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 ...

in a 3–2 home victory over

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 ...

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...

. He started again in the Blades' next tie in the League Cup which ended in a 4–1 home defeat to the visitors

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

of the

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 ...

, which knocked the Blades out of the competition. In November 2017, Eastwood signed a new long-term contract, committing to the Blades until 2020. He then joined

on an emergency loan. Eastwood made his league debut for Sheffield United on 3 February 2018 against

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 ...

, replacing Simon Moore who was sent off in the 73rd minute. On 5 July 2019, Eastwood joined Scunthorpe United on a season-long loan deal. After injuries to Sheffield United goalkeepers Simon Moore and

Michael Verrips Michael Robin Verrips (born 3 December 1996) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fortuna Sittard. Club career Verrips began playing youth football for Vitesse. In 2011 he moved to PSV, where he rose through t ...

, he was recalled by his parent club in January 2020. As a result, he was on the bench for their

game against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. On 30 July 2020, Eastwood signed for

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 ...

club

on a six-month loan. He made his debut on 1 August 2020, in Kilmarnock's opening game of the season, away to Hibernian, however he had to be substituted at half-time due to injury. On 11 January 2021, he returned to Sheffield United after making two appearances in all competitions. On 1 February 2021, Eastwood joined

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

on loan for the remainder of the 2020-21 season. Eastwood temporarily took over as first choice keeper having been favoured to regular

James McKeown James Karl McKeown (born 24 July 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for side Cleethorpes Town. Born in Birmingham, McKeown began his career aged 15 with Coventry City and Walsall youth teams, but was unable to estab ...

but an injury suffered in March limited him to 7 appearances. On 7 September 2021, Eastwood signed for

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 ...

side

on a seven-day emergency loan in order to play in an

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 ...

tie against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

. Portsmouth's first choice keeper

Gavin Bazunu Gavin Okeroghene Bazunu (born 20 February 2002) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL Championship club Southampton and the Republic of Ireland national team. Bazunu started his career at Shamrock Rovers, making ...

was on international duty with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, whilst his understudy Alex Bass was isolating due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Portsmouth lost the game 5-3. Eastwood returned to Scotland by joining

side Ross County on loan for the 2022-23 season. In January, Eastwood returned to Rochdale on loan until the end of the season having failed to make a league appearance in Scotland.

Grimsby Town

On 4 July 2023, Eastwood returned to Grimsby Town signing a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Career statistics

References

External links

Official Profile
at www.sufc.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eastwood, Jake Living people 1996 births English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Sheffield United F.C. players Sheffield F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Mickleover F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Northern Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Footballers from Rotherham