Zechariah Joshua Henry Medley (born 9 July 2000) 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 ...

who plays as a centre-back for

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, a ...

Club career

Born in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, Greater London, Medley joined the youth academy at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

when he was eight years old.

Arsenal

Upon leaving Chelsea, he joined the youth academy at Arsenal in December 2016. He captained the Arsenal under-18's at the beginning of the 2017–18 season before moving to the under-23 side. On 22 October 2018, Medley appeared on the bench for the Arsenal senior side for the first time in a

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 Fo ...

match against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, 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 lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. A month later, on 29 November, Medley made his senior competitive debut for Arsenal in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

against Vorskla Poltava, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute for

Rob Holding Robert Samuel Holding (born 20 September 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Arsenal. Holding progressed through the Bolton Wanderers youth system, making his senior debut in April 2015 while on loan ...

Loan spells

Medley had joined

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 ...

club Gillingham on a season-long loan on 10 August 2020, becoming their fourth signing of the summer. On 5 September, he made his debut in a 1–0 win against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in the EFL Cup. He made a total of 18 appearances for the club before he was recalled on 1 February 2021. He immediately 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 Scottis ...

side Kilmarnock on loan until the end of the season. On 6 February, he made his debut in a 2–0 loss against St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership. On 27 February, he scored his first goal for Kilmarnock in a 1–1 draw against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

in the Scottish Premiership.

KV Oostende

On 21 June 2021, Medley joined Belgian First Division A side

on a permanent deal, signing a four-year contract with the option of an additional year.

International career

Born in England, Medley is of Jamaican descent. He is a youth international for England.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medley, Zech 2000 births Living people Footballers from Greenwich English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Arsenal F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players K.V. Oostende players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Belgian Pro League players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Black British sportsmen English people of Jamaican descent