William Anthony Patrick Smallbone (born 21 February 2000) 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

central 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 club

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team.

Club career

Southampton

2017–2022

On 21 February 2017, Smallbone signed a professional contract with

. He made his professional debut for Southampton in a 2–0

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 ...

victory over Huddersfield Town on 4 January 2020, scoring the opening goal. On 22 February 2020, Smallbone went on to make his Premier League debut in a 2–0 victory over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Having just started to appear regularly for the first team, on 16 January 2021, Smallbone suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

in a 2–0 defeat at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. As a result, he was expected to be out of action for up to six months. On 26 October 2021, Smallbone made his first professional appearance since his injury, replacing

Stuart Armstrong Stuart Armstrong (born 30 March 1992) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Southampton and the Scotland national team. Armstrong began his professional career with Dundee United, making his debut in 2010 and ...

in Southampton's defeat to Chelsea after a penalty shootout in the

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 ...

2022–present

On 23 July 2022, Smallbone joined

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 ...

on a season-long loan. He scored his first goal for Stoke in a 2–0 win at

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

on 15 October 2022. Smallbone was a regular under Alex Neil in

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 ...

, making 46 appearances, scoring three goals as Stoke finished in 16th position. On 28 August 2023, Smallbone signed a three-year contract extension with Southampton. He scored his first league goal for the club on 30 September 2023 in a 3–1 victory against Leeds United.

International career

Smallbone qualified to play for the Republic of Ireland through his Kilkenny-born mother. Smallbone made his debut for Republic of Ireland U21s against Italy U21s in October 2020. On 3 June 2022, he scored his first goals for the Republic of Ireland U21 team, scoring a brace in a 3–0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina U21 at Tallaght Stadium. He followed that up by scoring a volley from outside the box three days later, to open the scoring in an eventual 3–1 win over Montenegro U21. In November 2022, Smallbone was included in Stephen Kenny's senior squad for forthcoming friendlies. He made his debut on 22 March 2023 in a friendly match against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, which ended in a 3–2 victory. He won

Player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award for his display against Latvia.

Personal life

Smallbone was diagnosed with alopecia in 2021 whilst recovering from his ACL injury. In December 2022, he became an ambassador for Alopecia UK.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Southampton *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , t ...

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Southampton F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Smallbone, Will 2000 births Living people Footballers from Basingstoke English men's footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football midfielders Southampton F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers English people of Irish descent People with alopecia areata