Kai John Oliver Milton McKenzie-Lyle (born 30 January 1997) is a 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 for

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

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 ...

. Born in England, he represents

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

at international level.

Club career

Barnet

McKenzie-Lyle joined

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 ...

as under-10, before he moved to Barnet as an under-14 and progressed through the club's academy to become first choice keeper for the under-18s, and made his senior debut with a start in a 3–0

Herts Senior Cup The Herts Senior Cup, officially titled the Hertfordshire County Football Association Senior Challenge Cup, is the oldest County-based football Cup competition based exclusively in Hertfordshire, England. It was first contested in the 1886-87 se ...

defeat to

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

on 21 January 2014. He first appeared on the bench in the league in October 2014. He made his

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

debut on 12 September 2015 in a 3–1

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 ...

away defeat by

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 ...

, coming on as a substitute for

John Akinde John Job Ayo Akinde (born 8 July 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays for League Two club Colchester United. Career Akinde's youth career started at Tottenham. Akinde played for Ebbsfleet United where he was a graduate of th ...

after regular goalkeeper

Jamie Stephens James Edward Stephens (born 25 August 1993) is an English football goalkeeper. Career Stephens started his career in the youth set up at Forest Green Rovers but moved to Swindon Town where his impressive showings brought him to the attention ...

had been sent-off. McKenzie-Lyle joined St Ives Town in August 2017 on loan. He then joined

Hayes & Yeading United Hayes & Yeading United Football Club is an association football club based in Hayes, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. The club was formed in 2007 from a merger of Hayes Football Club (founded in 1909) and Yeading Football Club (f ...

on loan in December 2017.

Liverpool

McKenzie-Lyle joined

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 ...

on trial in July 2018. He then signed for the Reds the following month. McKenzie-Lyle was released in June 2020, having played just twice for the under-23s in

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

Cambridge United

On 1 September 2020, McKenzie-Lyle joined

club Cambridge United on a two-year deal. On 25 March 2022, Chelmsford City announced the signing of McKenzie-Lyle on loan. McKenzie-Lyle was released by the club at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Non-league

McKenzie-Lyle joined

in August 2022.

International career

McKenzie-Lyle was called up to

's squad for their third round matches of

2017 Caribbean Cup qualification The 2017 Caribbean Cup qualification began in March 2016. The qualification competition determined which Caribbean national teams would play in the 2017 Caribbean Cup and the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Participants 25 teams from the 31 CFU members ...

, after being alerted to his eligibility by Jack Thorpe, a researcher for the Football Manager game. He made an unusual international debut for a goalkeeper, scoring a header in the 120th minute of a 3–2 loss against

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

. On his second appearance he saved a penalty against

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Personal life

McKenzie-Lyle's younger brother Renell (born 2000) is also a goalkeeper and product of the youth system at

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Guyana's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McKenzie-Lyle goal.'' , - , style="text-align:center", 1 , , 8 October 2016 , , André Kamperveen Stadion,

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

, Suriname , , , , style="text-align:center", 2–3 , , style="text-align:center", 2–3 , ,

, , , -

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie-Lyle, Kai 1997 births Living people Guyanese footballers Guyana men's international footballers English footballers English people of Guyanese descent Barnet F.C. players Cockfosters F.C. players St Ives Town F.C. players Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Southern Football League players National League (English football) players Black British sportsmen Footballers from the London Borough of Haringey