Joseph Peter Rodon (born 22 October 1997) is a Welsh 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

, on loan from club

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 ...

, and the Wales national team. A youth product of Swansea City, Rodon made 54 senior appearances for the club before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in October 2020. In 2022, Rodon helped Wales qualify for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

for the first time since 1958.

Club career

Swansea City

Rodon grew up in

Llangyfelach Llangyfelach is a village and community located in the City and County of Swansea, Wales. Llangyfelach is situated about 4 miles north of the centre of Swansea, just west of Morriston. It falls within the Llangyfelach ward. To the west is open ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

, went to Llangyfelach Primary School, and was a Swansea City season ticket holder before joining the club at the age of eight in 2005. He signed his first professional contract in July 2015 and was named on the first-team bench for the first time in January 2016 for the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie with

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

. He was then named on the first-team bench in 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 ...

game at the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

against

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 ...

in October 2017. Rodon played as captain of Swansea's under-23 team in a 2–1 win over

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

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 ...

on 15 August 2017. On 30 January 2018, he 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 Cheltenham Town on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season. Manager

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

said that "we have been keeping an eye on him for some time and he is undoubtedly a quality player". Rodon returned to Swansea and was given his senior debut by manager

Graham Potter Graham Stephen Potter (born 20 May 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of club Chelsea. In a 13-year playing career, Potter, who played as a left-back, made 307 appearances in the ...

ahead of the 2018–19

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

season. He became a regular starter at the club and made 21 appearances the following season under new coach Steve Cooper.

Tottenham Hotspur

Rodon signed for Premier League club

on 16 October 2020 for a fee of around £11 million on a five-year contract. Rodon made his Premier League debut for Tottenham Hotspur on 26 October 2020 after coming on as a substitute for

Son Heung-min Son Heung-min ( ko, 손흥민; ; born 8 July 1992) is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and captains the South Korea national team. Considered one of the best forwards in ...

in the 93rd minute in the 1–0 win away against

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 ...

. He made his first start for the club in the away match against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on 29 November as

Toby Alderweireld Toby Albertine Maurits Alderweireld (; born 2 March 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for Belgian Pro League club Royal Antwerp. Alderweireld began his professional career at Dutch club Ajax, whe ...

was out injured, and helped keep a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw.

Rennes (loan)

On 1 August 2022, it was announced that Rodon had joined French club

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

on a year-long loan with an option to buy.

Leeds United (loan)

Rodon made his league debut for

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

on 12 August 2023, when he came on as a 92nd-minute substitute for

Jamie Shackleton Jamie Stuart Shackleton (born 8 October 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays for club Leeds United. A versatile player, Shackleton can also play as a right-back, defensive midfielder, right midfielder or attacking midfielder. ...

in a 1-0 defeat at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

International career

He was named in a preliminary senior

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 ...

squad in May 2018 for a friendly against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

but was left out of the final selection. He was called up for a competitive game for the first time for a September 2019 qualifier against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. Rodon made his debut against Azerbaijan, playing all 90 minutes in a 2–1 win. In May 2021 he was selected for the Wales squad for the delayed

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament. In November 2022, Rodon was named in the Wales squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. He went on to play every minute of Wales' campaign as the team drew with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and lost to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

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 ...

, finishing bottom of

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

Style of play

Rodon is a ball-playing

, and has earned comparisons to

Fikayo Tomori Oluwafikayomi Oluwadamilola "Fikayo" Tomori (born 19 December 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club AC Milan and the England national team. Born in Canada, he represents England at international level. Early l ...

Personal life

Rodon's father Keri played basketball for Wales. Rodon's grandfather

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, and his uncle Chris Rodon were also professional footballers.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Swansea City U23 * Premier League Cup: 2016–17

References

External links

Profile
at the Tottenham Hotspur F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodon, Joe 1997 births Living people Footballers from Swansea Welsh men's footballers Men's association football defenders Swansea City A.F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Stade Rennais F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Wales men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Welsh expatriate men's footballers Welsh expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France