Jake Alexander Hesketh (born 27 March 1996) 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

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

Early and personal life

Hesketh was born in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

, Greater Manchester, but his family moved to

Whiteley Whiteley is a community in the county of Hampshire, England, near Fareham. The development straddles the boundary between two council districts: the Borough of Fareham to the south and east, and the city of Winchester to the north and west. L ...

, near

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufact ...

, Hampshire when he was six months old. He studied at Whiteley Primary School before moving onto Swanmore College.

Club career

Southampton

Hesketh started his career at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

's academy, first training with the club as an under-7 before signing with the club as an under-nine, the youngest at which he could sign, having previously been scouted at a local tournament playing for Crofton Saints Football Club. After progressing through the club's academy, he completed a two-year scholarship with the club and after finishing as the Under-18 team's top scorer was awarded the 2013–14 Scholar of the Season accolade at the Southampton club awards ceremony. He signed a three-year professional contract the same day, having spent the previous six weeks training and playing with the club's under-21 team. He was promoted into the first team by coach

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

due to injury problems among the squad. He made his debut for the club on 8 December 2014 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 ...

match 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 ...

, being brought in as a substitute for

Dušan Tadić Dušan Tadić ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Тадић, ; born 20 November 1988) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder and captains both Eredivisie club Ajax and the Serbia national team. Tadić spent his ...

in the 70th minute of the 2–1 home defeat. Five days later Hesketh made his first

start as Southampton lost 1–0 away to

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 ...

. Hesketh made 22 appearances for Martin Hunter's Under-21s in 2014–15, scoring two goals and lifting the 2015

U21 Premier League Cup The Premier League Cup is an English football competition run by the Premier League for under–21 sides. History The competition was created in 2013 as the U21 Premier League Cup, an U21 equivalent of the FA Youth Cup (an U18 competition com ...

. He failed to make a first team appearance during the 2015–16 season as he was not part of Koeman's first-team plans, but returned to the first-team following the arrival of

Claude Puel Claude Jacques Puel (; born 2 September 1961) is a French football manager and former player. He spent his entire playing career with Monaco, before becoming manager of the club, leading them to the league title in his first full season in char ...

as manager in summer 2016. After an appearance for the Southampton under-23 team 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 ...

in August 2016, he made his first first-team appearance of the season and scored his first senior goal on 22 September 2016, in a 2–0 win over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

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 ...

. Hesketh played again in a 0–0

UEFA 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 ...

draw away to Hapoel Beer Sheva a week later, but picked up an injury in October and failed to make any more appearances that season. In December 2016, he signed a new four-and-a-half year contract with the club. Puel was sacked as manager in summer 2017, with Southampton being managed by

Mauricio Pellegrino Mauricio Andrés Pellegrino Luna (; born 5 October 1971) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, currently the manager of Chilean club Universidad de Chile. After nearly one decade with Vélez Sarsfield, Pe ...

and later

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, and a ...

, and Hesketh failed to make a first-team appearance during the 2017–18 season.

Loan spells

On 30 August 2018, Hesketh signed for

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

on a loan deal until 2 January 2019. He scored his first league goal in a 2–2 draw at

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 23 October 2018. He appeared 23 times for Burton, scoring three goals. On 31 January 2019, Hesketh 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 ...

club

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. He made his debut for the club as a substitute in a 3–1 defeat to

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

on 2 February 2019, before scoring his first goal for the club on 9 February in a 3–2 defeat to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. He amassed 16 appearances in total across his loan spell, and scored twice. On 2 September 2019, he joined

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 Lincoln City on loan for the remainder of the 2019–20 season. He appeared in 24 matches and scored one goal across the 2019–20 season. He joined

club

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

on a season-long loan on 16 October 2020. He made his debut for the club on 20 October 2020 as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to

in League Two. On 31 October 2020, Hesketh was given a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

in Crawley’s 2–1 win over

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

. After 17 years at Southampton, Hesketh announced that he would leave the club at the end of the

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 b ...

season after the expiry of his contract.

Eastleigh

Following his release by Southampton in June 2021, Hesketh signed for

on 2 August.

Style of play

Hesketh's preferred position is as an

, but is also able to play as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or as a

wide midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Southampton *

: 2014–15 Milton Keynes Dons *

EFL 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 ...

third-place promotion: 2018–19

References

External links

* *
Profile at Southampton FC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hesketh, Jake Living people 1996 births Footballers from Stockport English footballers Southampton F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Association football midfielders Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players