Ezekiel David Fryers (born 9 September 1992) 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish football club located in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching ownership and th ...

. He began his career at

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 made his first team debut appearance, he left United and was bought by Belgian club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

, where he spent a year before returning to England with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. After another season, he was sold to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

, where he made appearances again in the first team. He spent time on loan at

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

before he was released. He signed 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, but was again released at the end of the 2018–19 season and joined

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. He left Swindon after his contract expired in 2021, ultimately signing for

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

until the end of the 2021–22 season, but he left after four months. Fryers is a youth international, having played for the England under-16, under-17 and under-19 teams.

Career

Manchester United

Fryers began his football career at Fletcher Moss Rangers. During the 2010–11 season, Fryers suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out for most of the season. Fryers made his senior debut for Manchester United in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

on 20 September 2011, starting alongside

Michael Carrick Michael Carrick (born 28 July 1981) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently head coach of Middlesbrough. He is one of the most decorated English footballers of all time and is best known for his 12-year p ...

in central defence in United's third round 3–0 victory over rivals

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. He then played in their 3–0 fourth round win against

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

on 25 October, appearing as a

. On 2 November, he was a late substitute for

Jonny Evans Jonathan Grant Evans (born 3 January 1988) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Leicester City and the Northern Ireland national team. Evans started his career at Manchester United and progressed th ...

during a 2–0 win against Oțelul Galați in a Champions League group stage match at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. He made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut in a game against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Patrice Evra Patrice Latyr Evra (; born 15 May 1981) is a French football coach and former professional player. Originally a forward, he primarily played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. His m ...

in the 68th minute; the game finished 4–1. On 26 December 2011, Fryers continued to press for more inclusions as a 46th-minute substitute for Jonny Evans in a league match against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. In February 2012,

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

carried a story suggesting that Fryers could follow fellow academy product

Ravel Morrison Ravel Ryan Morrison (born 2 February 1993) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club D.C. United. Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national football team, Jamaica national ...

out of Old Trafford at the end of the 2011–12 season. On 4 July 2012,

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

stated in an interview: "We haven't heard anything from Zeki Fryers, I don't know what's happening there but he's not been in touch with the club. His agent hasn't been in touch with the club and I can only assume he'll be back for training."

Standard Liège

Fryers spent the summer training with

ahead of a proposed transfer, but the two clubs were unable to agree on a compensation package (in England, when a player under the age of 23 leaves a club at the end of his contract, his new club must pay a fee to his old club as compensation for having trained him up). Belgian club

also expressed interest in Fryers, and as they are not an English club, they did not have to pay Manchester United the same level of compensation. Fryers signed a two-year contract with Liège on 23 August 2012. Fryers played in seven matches for Standard, but with the sacking of

Ron Jans Ron Jans (, born 29 September 1958) is a Dutch football coach and former player, he currently is the head coach of Twente. Coaching career FC Groningen Born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Ron Jans joined FC Groningen on 2002, and was the longest-serv ...

in November, he was left out of the squad and ultimately reported to his agent that he was homesick.

Tottenham Hotspur

With Fryers out of favour in Belgium, Tottenham renewed their interest in him in the January 2013 transfer window and reached an agreement with

to sign him. The transfer was criticised by the then Manchester United manager

, who accused Tottenham of "blatant manipulation" of the rules, having attempted to sign Fryers directly from United in the previous transfer window. Upon signing, Fryers was made part of Tottenham's development squad. During the Asia Cup competition, in July 2013, Tottenham brought Fryers on as a substitute, where he played at left-back for the remainder of the game.

Crystal Palace

On 1 September 2014, Fryers signed a three-year deal with

for an undisclosed fee. The defender was released from his contract on 30 June 2017.

Loan moves

After making only one three-minute substitute appearance in the League for Crystal Palace, Fryers joined

on a one-month loan on 16 January 2015. On 26 March 2015, Fryers signed for

on loan until the end of the 2014–15 season, alongside Crystal Palace teammate Jonny Williams.

Barnsley

On 1 July 2017, it was announced that Fryers had joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

on a three-year contract. He was released by Barnsley at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Swindon Town

After his release from Barnsley, Fryers signed for

on a two-year deal. On 14 May 2021 it was announced that he would leave Swindon at the end of the season, following the expiry of his contract.

Stockport County

After being a free agent for under four months, on 11 September,

announced that they signed Fryers on a one-year deal. Fryers left Stockport after four months with the club, having made six appearances.

Welling United

On 2 April 2022, Fryers signed for

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

Macclesfield

On 19 May 2022, Fryers signed for

Northern Premier League Division One West Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

side

Macclesfield Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...

but left by mutual consent in October 2022. In February 2023, Fryers joined

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

side

on a deal until the end of the season.

Career statistics

Honours

Swindon Town *

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 ...

: 2019–20

References

External links

Zeki Fryers
at tottenhamhotspur.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fryers, Zeki 1992 births Living people People educated at North Cestrian Grammar School Black British sportsmen Footballers from Manchester English footballers England youth international footballers Association football defenders Fletcher Moss Rangers F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Standard Liège players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Macclesfield F.C. players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players National League (English football) players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium AFC Eskilstuna players English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Sweden