Ryan Peter Hedges (born 8 July 1995) 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 for Blackburn Rovers and the

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

. He made his professional debut for Leyton Orient in January 2015, on loan from

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

. After further loan spells at

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 ...

and

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

, Hedges signed permanently for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in 2017. He joined

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

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in June 2019 and later signed for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club Blackburn Rovers in January 2022.

Early life

Hedges attended

Hawarden High School Hawarden High School () is an English language medium secondary school in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Flintshire LEA. The school traces its history back to 1606 when a single-classroom grammar school was established with £30 ...

Hawarden Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community (Wales), community and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home ...

, Flintshire, North Wales. Michael Owen, Andy Dorman, Gary Speed and

Danny Ward Daniel Ward may refer to: *Daniel Ward (boxer) (born 1963), South African boxer of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s *Daniel Ward (footballer) (born 1977), former Australian rules footballer with Melbourne Football Club * Daniel P. Ward (1918–1995), Ame ...

are fellow ex-pupils from the school who became professional footballers. Hedges spent seven seasons at Everton as a schoolboy, eventually being released at under-16 level.

Professional career

Swansea City

Hedges joined

from

Flint Town ''Flint Town'' is an eight episode American documentary television series that was released on Netflix on March 2, 2018. The documentary focuses on the thoughts and conflicted emotions of police officers serving to protect urban areas of Flint, M ...

in July 2013 following some impressive performances for the Welsh Schools Under-18 team. Hedges linked up with the Swansea City Under-21 team in the 2013–14 season, and was rewarded for his progress with a new one-year contract until June 2014. In June 2015, Hedges signed a three-year contract extension at Swansea.

Leyton Orient loan

On 16 January 2015, Hedges joined League One team Leyton Orient on a one-month loan deal. He made his professional debut for Leyton Orient against Colchester United on 24 January 2015. After an impressive start, Hedges' loan was extended until the end of the 2014–15 season. Hedges scored his first professional goal for Leyton Orient, and then set up a goal for Chris Dagnall, in a 2–0 win over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

on 28 February 2015. Weeks later on 14 March 2015, Hedges scored his second goal for Leyton Orient in a 3–0 win over

. Hedges went on to make seventeen appearances, scoring twice, as Orient were relegated to

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 ...

Stevenage loan

In February 2016, Hedges joined

on a one-month emergency loan.

Yeovil Town loan

On 8 July 2016, Hedges signed for

side

on a six-month loan deal.

Barnsley

On 31 January 2017, Hedges was recalled from his loan spell at Yeovil, and signed permanently for

side

for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half-year contract. He scored his first goal for Barnsley in a 3–1 loss at

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

on 5 August 2017.

Aberdeen

Hedges was offered a new contract by Barnsley at the end of the 2018–19 season, but he instead opted to sign a three-year contract with

club

. On 27 August 2020, he scored a hat-trick as Aberdeen won 6–0 at home against

NSÍ Runavík NSÍ Runavík is a Faroese football club, playing in Runavík on the island of Eysturoy. It was founded 24 March 1957. In 2003 NSÍ participated for the first time on a European stage. In 2007, the club won the Faroe Islands Premier League for t ...

in the Europa League first qualifying round, having only come on as a half-time substitute.

Blackburn Rovers

On 30 January 2022, Hedges joined Blackburn Rovers on a three-and-a-half year deal, with an optional 12 month extension, for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for the club on 13 September 2022 in a 2–0 win against

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, a ...

. Almost 12 months later he scored one of the contenders for goal of the season against Watford away to secure 0-1 win. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66561725

International career

Prior to joining Swansea City, Hedges scored twice and claimed an assist as captain of the Welsh Schools Under-18s team in a 4–1 win over England. Hedges has represented Wales at under-19 and under-21 level. He made his debut for the senior side on 14 November 2017 as a substitute during a 1–1 draw with

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Barnsley *

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

runner-up: 2018–19

References

External links

* * *
Swansea City A.F.C. profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedges, Ryan 1995 births Living people Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards 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 Flint Town United F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Wales men's international footballers