Remi Luke Matthews (born 10 February 1994) 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

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 ...

for side Crystal Palace. He began his career with Norwich City, but did not make a senior appearance. He was loaned to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Hamilton Academical and several

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 ...

teams, before joining

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 ...

permanently in January 2019. In August the following year, he joined

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

on a one-year deal. In July 2021, Matthews signed for Crystal Palace on a two-year deal.

Career

Norwich City

Born in Gorleston,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, Matthews began his career at the academy of Norwich City. After an injury to their last loanee

Chris Weale Christopher Weale (born 9 February 1982) is a former English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently director of football at Sherborne School. Career Yeovil Town Born in Yeovil, Somerset, Weale was a product of Yeov ...

, Matthews was signed on a month-long loan by Burton Albion on 27 November 2014. Two days later, he was included in a matchday squad for the first time in his career, remaining an unused substitute in their 1–0 loss at Shrewsbury Town; this would happen four more times in his spell as he left without an appearance. On 6 July 2015, Matthews returned to Burton on loan until the next January. A week later, he signed a new two-year contract at his parent club. He made his professional debut on 8 August, a 2–1 win against

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

at the

Pirelli Stadium Pirelli Stadium is an association football stadium on Princess Way in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was built in 2005 and is the current home of Burton Albion FC Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association foo ...

in Burton's first ever League One match. They ended the season with a second promotion. After six games in all competitions, Matthews returned to Norwich. On 24 March 2016 he went back to League One, joining Doncaster Rovers for the rest of the season. He made his debut the following day in a 4–1 loss at Colchester United, and totalled nine games for the team from the Keepmoat Stadium, who ended the campaign with relegation. On 16 July 2016, Matthews joined

club Hamilton Academical on a season-long loan, having signed a new two-year contract, with the option of another year at Norwich. He made his debut the same day, as Hamilton lost 2–1 to Ayr United in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

. On 20 October 2017, Matthews was signed by League One club

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on an emergency loan as all three professional goalkeepers ( Luke McCormick,

Robbert te Loeke Robbert te Loeke (born 1 December 1988) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In his career he played for Achilles '29, Werder Bremen II, SC Cambuur, SC Veendam, FC Dordrecht and lastly for Plymouth Argyle. Career ...

and

Kyle Letheren Kyle Charles Letheren (born 26 December 1987) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer and goalkeeper coach. He is currently a goalkeeper coach at Doncaster Rovers. He has played in the Scottish Premier League for Kilmarn ...

) were out injured. He made his debut the next day in a 1–0 away win over

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

. Matthews returned to Norwich on 27 November after getting injured in a league game against

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 ...

. On 29 December 2017, Matthews re-joined Plymouth on loan for a second time in the same season. Initially again on an emergency loan for just one game against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, it was extended in the

January transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer w ...

until the end of the season.

Bolton Wanderers

On 12 August 2018, Matthews joined Championship club

on an initial loan deal, with the move set to be made permanent in January 2019. However, on 5 January 2019, he returned to Norwich after the transfer fell through due to Bolton's transfer embargo. On 18 January, he joined on a permanent deal. Matthews made his debut for Bolton on 14 August in a 2–1 loss at Leeds United in the first round of the EFL Cup. On 17 September 2019, Matthews kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw against

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 ...

, making several crucial saves during the match. Bolton had been saved from liquidation only a few days before. Matthews assisted in gaining a much needed point for the side, only their second of a troubled League One campaign in 2019. On 26 June it was announced Matthews would be one of 14 senior players released at the end of his contract on 30 June.

Sunderland

Matthews joined

on 21 August 2020 on a one-year deal. On 25 May 2021 it was announced that Matthews would leave the club at the end of the season, following the expiration of his contract.

Crystal Palace

In July 2021, Matthews joined club Crystal Palace on a two-year contract.

St Johnstone (loan)

Prior to the start of the 2022–23 season, Matthews was sent on a season-long loan to Scottish club

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 ...

. At the same time, he signed a one-year extension with Palace. Matthews returned to Crystal Palace for the following season, and made his first appearance for the club and also Premier League debut when he came on as a substitute replacing

Sam Johnstone Samuel Luke Johnstone (born 25 March 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as goalkeeper for club Crystal Palace and the England national team. A product of the Manchester United academy, Johnstone spent time on loan with Old ...

in a 2–1 home defeat against

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 9 December 2023, aged 29. On 5 June 2024, Crystal Palace said the player had agreed a one-year extension.

Career statistics

Honours

Sunderland *

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

2020–21 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 ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Crystal Palace F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Remi 1994 births Living people People from Gorleston-on-Sea English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Norwich City F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Crystal Palace F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Premier League players