Matthew Anthony Willock (born 20 August 1996) is a former 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 played as a central midfielder. Born in England, he represents the Montserrat national team. Willock began his football career with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

before moving to

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 ...

, where he spent seven years. He went on loan to Dutch team

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

in 2017, and Scottish clubs

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

and St Mirren the following year. In 2019, he went on loan to Crawley Town before being released by United, subsequently being signed by Gillingham, where he spent two years, then Salford City, where he remained for only one season. He has been a free agent since the end of the 2021–22 season.

Club career

Early career

Willock had a spell with the

youth ranks up until 2011, when he was released at the age of 15. He subsequently had trials with Championship team Reading and Premier League team

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prior to joining

in 2012.

Manchester United

He first featured for the academy at the

2012 Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament The 2012 Northern Ireland Milk Cup is the 30th edition of the international football tournament which takes place annually in the north coast of Northern Ireland, and attracts competitors from across the globe. There are three sections to the to ...

before playing for the Under-18s domestically, the Under-19s in the UEFA Youth League and then the Under-23s. He appeared on the senior squad's bench twice during the 2016–17 season, being an unused substitute in home matches against West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace. He signed a new two-year contract in August 2017, prior to leaving on loan. On 7 June 2019, it was announced that, on 30 June, Willock would leave the club following the expiration of his contract.

FC Utrecht loan

On 31 August 2017, Willock was loaned out to Eredivisie side

for the season. He was assigned the number 26 shirt. However, his first match in Utrecht colours came for the reserve team in the Eerste Divisie, making his professional debut in a 4–1 loss at home to

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

. On 20 September, Willock made his first start for the senior squad in a

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

first round tie against

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at the Amsterdam Arena, he scored the fifth goal in a 6–0 victory. His Eredivisie debut came on 1 October in an away draw versus Vitesse. After five first-team appearances and one goal for FC Utrecht in all competitions, Willock's loan was terminated on 31 January 2018.

St Johnstone loan

On 31 January 2018, Willock completed a loan move to Scottish Premiership team

until June. He made his debut for St Johnstone in a 1–0 defeat to Heart of Midlothian on 3 February. His first goal for St Johnstone – and his first professional goal in British football – arrived on 31 March during a loss away against Aberdeen.

St Mirren loan

In July 2018, Willock moved on loan to Scottish Premiership club St Mirren. After featuring fourteen times in league and cup for St Mirren, Willock had his loan terminated on 21 December.

Crawley Town loan

On 31 January 2019, Willock joined

EFL 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 ...

side Crawley Town on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. Having appeared in eleven matches for Crawley as they finished nineteenth, he returned to his parent club on 8 May.

Gillingham

Willock completed a move to Gillingham of

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on 13 June 2019. He scored on his unofficial debut for the club, netting in a nine-goal pre-season victory away to Faversham Town on 6 July. After suffering a hamstring injury soon after, Willock made his Gillingham debut on 31 August during a 5–0 victory over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. At the end of the 2020–21 season, it was announced that the Kent club would not be renewing Willock's contract and he would therefore be departing after two seasons.

Salford City

After spending two weeks on trial, he signed for

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 ...

club Salford City on 4 August. Starting in central midfield on his début on 7 August, he scored Salford's equaliser in their opening game of the season in a 1–1 draw against Leyton Orient, described by Sky Sports as a "30-yard thunderbolt". He was released by Salford at the end of the 2021–22 season.

International career

Willock was called up to the Montserrat squad for

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

in June 2021. He debuted with Montserrat in a 4–0

win over the US Virgin Islands on 2 June 2021.

Personal life

He has two brothers, Chris and

Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

, who are also professional footballers. All three brothers shared a pitch when Manchester United played a reserve game against Arsenal in May 2017.

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 700 ...

, Patrick Vieira and

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime as a playmaker at AC Milan, a period marke ...

were his heroes growing up.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willock, Matty 1996 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest Montserratian men's footballers Montserrat men's international footballers English men's footballers English people of Montserratian descent Men's association football midfielders English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players Jong FC Utrecht players FC Utrecht players Salford City F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Black British sportsmen