Kyle Naughton (born 17 November 1988) 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 ...

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 ...

for club Swansea City. Naughton was a product of

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

's academy before breaking into their first team in 2008, transferring to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

the following year. He has represented England at under-21 level as well as having loan spells with Gretna,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

Club career

Sheffield United

Naughton was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, South Yorkshire. He was a product of

's centre of excellence and academy, having trained with the club the age of seven. He attended an England under-15 training camp during the 2004–05 season, and over the years has become a regular in the Academy and reserve teams. He captained his club's academy team to the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup in the 2006–07 season. He was signed by Scottish Premier League team Gretna on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

in January 2008, and made his league debut for Gretna against Rangers on 16 January 2008. He played regularly for the rest of the season at the troubled Scottish club who were placed into administration during his tenure there. Despite this Naughton continued for Gretna as the Blades agreed to cover insurance payments needed to allow him to play. Naughton played 19 times for the club but was unable to help them avoid

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

. Naughton made his first team debut for the Blades the following season, coming on as a second-half substitute in the first round of the League Cup against

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in August 2008. In his second substitute appearance for the club he netted the winning goal in a 2–1 League Cup success over Yorkshire rivals

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. Naughton made his league debut on 20 September 2008 against

, he then went on to make his first start for Sheffield United in their 2–1 victory over

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

on 27 September 2008, gaining the man of the match award. From that point he cemented his place in the starting eleven and was virtually ever present for the rest of the season, becoming first choice at right back whilst also making a couple of appearances in midfield and finishing the season playing at left back to cover for the injured

Gary Naysmith Gary Andrew Naysmith (born 16 November 1978) is a Scottish football coach and former player, who is currently the manager of Scottish League Two side Stenhousemuir. Naysmith, who played as a left-back or left-winger, started his senior ca ...

. His successful season was rewarded when he was voted Young Player of the Year by the United supporters club, was runner up to

Matthew Kilgallon Matthew Shaun Kilgallon (born 8 January 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Kilgallon began his career at Leeds United, where he came through the youth set up before becoming a fixture in their first ...

in the senior Player of the Year award and was included in the Championship PFA Team of the Year.

Tottenham Hotspur

Despite major interest from Everton, Naughton signed for

in July 2009 along with fellow

player

Kyle Walker Kyle Andrew Walker (born 28 May 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Manchester City and the England national team. Walker started his career at his boyhood club Sheffield United which he had join ...

for a combined fee of £9 million. He made his Spurs non-competitive debut against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the 2009 Wembley Cup which ended in a 1–1 draw. He came on as a substitute in the 94th minute in the match against

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 ...

, which was the club's third match in the 2009–10 season to mark his debut 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 Fo ...

. Naughton then signed a six-month loan deal with

on 1 February 2010. He made his debut in the 1–1 draw against

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 ...

. After returning to Tottenham he was loaned out again initially until January to another

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 ...

club,

. He made his debut on 16 October in a 1–1 draw against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

. In his second match for Leicester City, against Leeds United, he scored the second league goal of his career. He scored again for Leicester City in the 5–1 win against Doncaster Rovers. He also scored against Barnsley in a 4–1 win on 5 February with a 30-yard drive into the top corner. Naughton also scored a 25-yard rocket to equalise for Leicester in the M69 derby against Coventry. On 12 March, Naughton scored Leicester's 3rd goal in their 3–0 win over Scunthorpe. Leicester extended Naughton's loan until the end of the 2010–11 season on 8 January after a permanent move failed to materialise. In April, Naughton was named as right back in the Championship PFA Team of the Year for the second time in three years and won the Leicester City Young Player of the Year award. On 21 July 2011, Naughton signed a season-long loan deal to

team

from Tottenham Hotspur. He was handed squad number 25 for his year in Norfolk. Naughton was an unused substitute for the Canaries opening Premier League fixture against Wigan Athletic on 13 August 2011. Naughton displaced Russell Martin as the first-choice right back, and started the matches against Stoke, Chelsea and West Brom. In all, he made twenty-three appearances over the course of the season at either right back or centre back. Naughton made his first full league start for Tottenham on 16 September 2012 away to Reading, a match in which Tottenham won 3–1.

Swansea City

Naughton joined Swansea City on 22 January 2015 for a reported £5 million. Naughton quickly established himself as first choice right back for Swansea, before being ruled out for the remainder of the

2014–15 Premier League The 2014–15 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd season of the Premier League, the top English professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992, and the ...

season with ankle ligament damage in a 3–1 victory over

International career

In November 2008, after only eleven league appearances, Naughton was called up to the England under-21 team for the friendly against the Czech Republic under-21 team at Bramall Lane. He duly made his England debut, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute in a 2–0 victory. Naughton is also eligible to play for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

national team.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 2008–09 Championship, 2010–11 Championship *

Young Player of the Year:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Young Player of the Year: 2008–09

References

External links

Profile
at the Swansea City A.F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naughton, Kyle 1988 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football defenders Sheffield United F.C. players Gretna F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Black British sportspeople English people of Irish descent