Marcus Alexander Browne (born 18 December 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

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 th ...

. A product of the West Ham United youth academy, he can play in a central attacking midfield role and can also operate on both

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

Early life

Browne was born in Tower Hamlets of

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

n descent.

Club career

West Ham United

Browne joined West Ham United at the age of 8 and progressed through the academy at the club prior to signing his first professional contract on 12 November 2015. On 18 August 2016, Browne made his senior debut in a

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 ...

fixture against

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

. The game finished 1–1 and Browne replaced

Gökhan Töre Gökhan Töre (, born 20 January 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Adana Demirspor. Töre began his club career at Hamburger SV before joining Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan in the summer of 2012. He made onl ...

in the 75th minute. After making a tackle in the middle of the pitch, Browne ran for around before passing to teammate

Michail Antonio Michail Gregory Antonio (born 28 March 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for club West Ham United. Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national team. Antonio began his career at non-League club Tooting & Mitch ...

before the right winger missed a clear chance to score. On 20 January 2017, Browne joined struggling Championship club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on loan until the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. He made his debut and only appearance on 29 January, where he came on as a second-half substitute in their 4–0

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 ...

defeat to

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 ...

giants

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Wigan went on to suffer relegation to League One at the end of the divisional campaign. On 24 July 2018, Browne joined established League One club

on a season-long loan. He made his league debut, coming on as a substitute, during a 2–0 home defeat to

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 ...

, their second game of the season. Browne scored his first goal for Oxford in a convincing 2–0 win against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

on 14 August, in the first round of their

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 ...

campaign. His first league goal, which was referred to as a "superb solo goal", came in a 3–2 home defeat to Accrington Stanley a week later. By the end of the season, Browne had scored 9 goals in 44 appearances throughout all competitions, 6 of which occurred in his 34 divisional appearances.

Middlesbrough

On 26 July 2019, Browne signed a four-year deal with Championship club

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 ...

for an officially undisclosed transfer fee. Browne re-joined

on 9 January 2020 on a loan deal until the end of the 2019–20 season.

Oxford United

In January 2022 Browne signed a two and a half-year contract with

for an undisclosed fee. Browne's contract included the option of an extra 12 months.

Style of play

manager

Karl Robinson Karl Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Oxford United. Playing career Robinson was born in Rainhill, Merseyside. He played for Caernarfon Town, Bamber Bri ...

praised the player upon his arrival at the club, stating, "He is technically very good, he sees a pass and will score goals so he is very talented and we know there were a lot of clubs chasing him." Upon his arrival at the Teesside-based club,

manager

Jonathan Woodgate Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born 22 January 1980) is an English football manager and former player who is currently the First Team Coach at EFL Championship club, Middlesbrough. Woodgate began his career at Middlesbrough but moved to Leeds United ...

stated, "Marcus is an exciting, hungry young player who wants to come and play for this football club. He's just what we need. He can play in three different positions and he is quick. I watched a lot of games for Oxford last season and he's not only the type of player we want here, but he's also the type we can improve, and he will get better."

Career statistics

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Marcus 1997 births Living people English footballers Footballers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Black British sportsmen Association football midfielders West Ham United F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players English Football League players