Matthew Baker (born 6 February 2003) 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 as a defender for club Newport County and the Wales under-21 national team.

Club career

Baker progressed through the Gillingham youth system and signed for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

in June 2021. He moved on loan to Newport County in January 2023 for the remainder of the

2022–23 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. He made his Football League debut for Newport on 14 February 2023 in the League Two 2–2 draw against

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. Baker made 18 appearances for Newport helping them finish in 15th position. In September 2023 Baker re-joined Newport County on loan for the 2023–24 season. Baker made 39 appearances for the Exiles as they finished in 18th position. In May 2024, Stoke City offered Baker a contract extension. On 1 July 2024, Baker returned to Newport County on a permanent two-year deal after both clubs had reached a compensation agreement.

International career

Baker is from Kent and qualifies for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

through his mother who was born in

Narberth, Pembrokeshire Narberth ( cy, Arberth) is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was founded around a Welsh court and later became a Norman stronghold on the Landsker Line. It became the headquarters of the hundred of Narberth. It was once ...

. He is a Wales youth international and captained them at under-19 level. On 26 March 2023 Baker made his Wales under-21 debut in the starting line-up for the 3–0 friendly match win against Scotland under-21 in Spain. He later became under-21 captain. In June 2024 Baker was called up to the Wales senior squad for the first time.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Matt 2003 births Living people Footballers from Kent Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers English men's footballers English people of Welsh descent Gillingham F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football defenders