Joshua Oluwadurotimi Emmanuel (born 18 August 1997) 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 a

right 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 ...

and winger for

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 ...

. He will become a free agent on 30 June 2024. Emmanuel came through the youth academies of

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 ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

before signing professional terms with the latter and going on to make 23 league appearances for the Tractor Boys between 2015 and 2019, as well as spending time on loan initially with

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 ...

. His loan spell during the 2017–18 season with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

saw him make 31 appearances for The Millers as they were promoted to the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

through the play-offs. He went on to have a spell with

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 ...

before signing with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. He joined

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

in 2020 and was part of the team who were champions of

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 ...

during his first season.

Club career

Ipswich Town

Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Emmanuel was a schoolboy at

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

before joining the youth setup at Ipswich. After progressing through the ranks at Ipswich Town, Emmanuel was called up by Manager

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...

for the first team on the pre-season tour of Ireland. After being given a number 29 shirt ahead of the new season, Emmanuel signed a professional contract at the club in August 2015, and made his competitive Ipswich debut against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 8 August 2015 in the first match of the 2015–16 season, in which he set up a goal for

Kévin Bru Kévin Bru (born 12 December 1988) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for C'Chartres. Born in France, he represented France at youth international level before playing for Mauritius national football team. Club career Renn ...

in a 2–2 draw. He then had a handful of first team appearances throughout August before losing his first team place soon after. After his loan spell at Crawley Town came to an end, it wasn't until on 29 April 2016 when he made another appearance for the side, in a 3–2 win over

MK 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 ...

. In the 2016–17 season, Emmanuel started the season on the substitutes bench and did not make his first appearance of the season until 24 September 2016 in a 1–0 loss to

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 ...

. However, he appeared in several matches before being demoted to the substitutes bench after Adam Webster, who recovered from his injury. He then signed a two-year contract with the club, keeping him until 2019. Towards the end of the 2016–17 season, Emmanuel then began playing in the right-midfield position. By the end of the 2016–17 season, Emmanuel made the total of 17 appearances in all competitions.

Crawley Town (loan)

To gain first team experience, Emmanuel joined

on loan on 26 November 2015, where he made his debut for the club in a 3–1 loss against

three days later. He returned to Ipswich on 3 January 2016.

Rotherham United (loan)

Emmanuel joined

on a season-long loan deal on 13 July 2017. He made his Rotherham United debut, starting the match and playing the full 90 minutes, in a 2–0 loss against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

in the opening game of the season. He went on to make 31 league appearances for Rotherham as the club earned promotion to the EFL Championship, and was voted the club's young player of the year.

Shrewsbury Town (loan)

In August 2018 Emmanuel joined

on loan for the 2018–19 season. He made 14 league appearances for the Shrews before returning to Ipswich on 18 January 2019, after being recalled from his loan spell.

Bolton Wanderers

On 2 September 2019, Emmanuel joined

on a contract until the end of the season, following his release from

a few hours earlier. He made his debut on 14 September, starting against

in a 6–1 defeat. On 26 June it was announced Emmanuel would be one of 14 senior players released at the end of his contract on 30 June.

Hull City

On 7 August 2020, it was announced that Emmanuel would join newly relegated

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

on a free transfer. Emmanuel signed a two-year deal, with an optional one-year extension. Emmanuel played his first game for the club on 5 September 2020, in the first round of 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 ...

away against

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 ...

, which Hull won on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

after a 0–0 draw. In November 2021, Emmanuel fell ill before a game with

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 ...

having fainted. The illness kept him side-lined for the best part of a year. On 18 May 2022, Hull City exercised an option for an additional year on his contract.

Grimsby Town

On 31 January 2023, Emmanuel signed a deal with

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 ...

until the end of the season for an undisclosed fee. Upon signing for Grimsby, he had not played football since November 2021 due to illness, manager

Paul Hurst Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a defender from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, ba ...

commented that "He fainted, and without going into too much detail, they weren't quite sure why, but, as I said, he's been playing, he's been training and I think he's got sick of getting fit for no reward at the end of it," In reality, if we can get anything like the Josh Emmanuel of his career so far then the reality is we're getting somebody who us above the level, so that's what we all hope for and I'm sure Josh is exactly the same." Emmanuel was part of the Grimsby team that reached the quarter finals of 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 ...

following a 2–1 win away at

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 ...

side

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 ...

. Following the victory in an interview with the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'', Emmanuel opened up about his illness saying it was a clot that initially stunted his speech and he was unable to move the left side of his body. On 9 May 2023, it was announced that Emmanuel would not be retained for the 2023–24 season and would be leaving the club when his contract expires on 30 June. With it announced the likelihood that Emmanuel would be seeking to find a club higher up the Football League system.

Carlisle United

On 23 November 2023, Emmanuel joined League One club

on a contract until the end of the season having been training with them for a number of weeks. Following the club's relegation, he was released upon the expiration of his contract.

Personal life

Emmanuel is of Nigerian descent. Growing up in Harlow, Essex, Emmanuel supported

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 ...

and was raised as a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, crediting it for force in his life. Emmanuel revealed that he used to play rugby when he was young and was even offered a trial at

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

but made it clear he wanted to be a footballer and wouldn't consider rugby as an alternative.

Career statistics

Honours

Rotherham United *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Hull City *

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 ...

Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Emmanuel, Josh 1997 births Living people Footballers from London Footballers from Harlow English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Ipswich Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players English Football League players English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Black British sportsmen