Joshua Samuel Sims (born 28 March 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 winger 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 ...

side Ross County.

Club career

Southampton

Sims joined

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 ...

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

from the Elite Training Centre in 2011. After impressing with the under-23 side, Sims made his professional debut for

on 27 November 2016 against Everton 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. He took only a few moments to achieve his first assist of his senior career when he set up

Charlie Austin Charles Austin (born 5 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker. Released from his contract by Reading as a youth, Austin played non-league football up to May 2009, when he was signed by Swindon Town after a pro ...

for a headed goal in the first minute. Sims ended the first half with 95% passing accuracy, the best among all players on the pitch, as Southampton went on to win 1–0. Sims made his

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 ...

debut for Southampton on 8 December, in a 1–1 draw against

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The c ...

. Sims continued to stay in the mix for the first team into January and provided the game-winning assist for

Shane Long Shane Patrick Long (born 22 January 1987) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL Championship club Reading and the Republic of Ireland national team. He also played hurling for the Tipperary county team in his early ...

in a 1–0 away win against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

to send Southampton into the 2017 EFL Cup final.

Reading (loan)

On 20 August 2018, Sims joined

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on a season-long loan. He made his debut for Reading two days later, in a 2–2 away draw with

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in the

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 ...

. Sims was brought on just after the hour-mark to replace

Sone Aluko Omatsone Folarin "Sone" Aluko (born 19 February 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for Ipswich Town and the Nigeria national team. Aluko began his career at Birmingham City, graduating from the club's academy ...

. He was recalled in January.

New York Red Bulls (loan)

On 7 August 2019, Sims joined

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

on loan until the end of the calendar year. On 20 October 2019, Sims scored his first goal as a professional to help New York to a 1–0 lead against

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

in the

2019 MLS Cup Playoffs The 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the 2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) was the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It was th ...

, New York would eventually lose 4–3 in overtime. After appearing in nine matches and scoring one goal, Sims' loan with New York Red Bulls was extended until 30 June 2020.

Doncaster Rovers (loan)

Sims moved to

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

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

on 16 October 2020 on a three month loan. He scored his first goal for Doncaster, and his first professional goal in English football, in a 2-1 loss to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

on 24 October 2020. On 27 January 2021, it was announced that Sims had rejoined Doncaster for the remainder of the 2020–21 season. On 4 June 2021, Southampton confirmed that Sims had been released 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.

Ross County

On 14 February 2022, Sims signed for

side Ross County.

International career

Sims has represented England at U17 through to

U20 U20 or U-20 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , a sloop of the Royal Navy * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Great truncated cuboctahedron * Meizu U20, a smartphone * Roland U-20, a synthesizer * Small nucleolar RNA SN ...

level. He was a part of the squad that won the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship.

Personal life

Sims grew up in the town of

Gillingham, Dorset Gillingham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. It lies on the B3095 and B3081 roads, approximately south of the A303 road, A303 trunk road and northwest of Shaftesbury. It is the most northerly town i ...

and attended

Gillingham School Gillingham School is a coeducational school situated in Gillingham in North Dorset, England. Gillingham Grammar School can trace its foundation back to 1516. It was founded as a Free School, paid for out of the proceeds of land gifted to the sc ...

. At the beginning of January 2022, Sims tested positive for

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 ...

, and despite having no symptoms, Sims explained how he ‘didn’t feel the same’ and ‘felt fatigued’ when playing after returning to Doncaster following a hamstring injury he suffered in December. In late March 2021, Sims suffered a glute injury, which he recovered from, but still suffered from fatigue. Sims explained how he lost his appetite and subsequently lost weight. In April 2021, Sims was diagnosed with

ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood (hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, and a ...

. In May 2021, Sims felt unwell and went to hospital, and was diagnosed with

myocarditis Myocarditis, also known as inflammatory cardiomyopathy, is an acquired cardiomyopathy due to inflammation of the heart muscle. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, chest pain, decreased ability to exercise, and an irregular heartbeat. The ...

. He stayed in hospital for three nights before being released. However, within three hours of returning home, Sims couldn’t get out of bed and developed ‘bad chest pain’ and had to go back to hospital for a week due to

pericarditis Pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium, the fibrous sac surrounding the heart. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp chest pain, which may also be felt in the shoulders, neck, or back. The pain is typically less severe when sit ...

. In late June 2021, Sims was admitted to hospital again as the swelling had moved to his lungs. In early August 2021, Sims started to feel unwell, and woke up one morning with a ‘stabbing pain’ but has since recovered.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Southampton *

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 ...

: 2014–15 *

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 ...

runners-up: 2016–17

International

England U-17 * UEFA European U-17 Championship:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

*
Sky Sports Profile

Southampton F.C. profile

England profile
at

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Joshua 1997 births Living people People from Yeovil English footballers Southampton F.C. players Reading F.C. players New York Red Bulls players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Association football midfielders Premier League players English Football League players England youth international footballers Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players Scottish Professional Football League players Ross County F.C. players