Thomas Adam Edwards (born 22 January 1999) 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

right 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 Stoke City.

Early life

Edwards was born in Stafford and attended Blessed William Howard Catholic School. Edwards completed his final GCSE year at

Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy, a.k.a. OSSMA (formerly Blurton High School) is a mixed secondary school with academy status located in the Blurton area of Stoke on Trent Staffordshire, England. The school is named after the English f ...

Blurton Blurton is a district in the south of Stoke on Trent, in the English county of Staffordshire. Hollybush, Old Blurton, Blurton Farm and Newstead are the names of the areas in which make up the town known as Blurton. Education Sutherland Prim ...

due to its links with the Stoke City Academy.

Career

Stoke City

Edwards joined Stoke City's academy at the age of 11 from Stafford Town and progressed through the ranks to win the under-18 player of the year twice. He became involved in first team duties in 2017–18 and signed a four-year contract with the club in September 2017. Edwards 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 Fo ...

debut on 14 October 2017 against Manchester City and he provided the cross for Stoke's second goal but was stretchered off after picking up an ankle injury. Edwards made his home debut on 23 December 2017 against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

where he was named as

man 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 ...

in a 3–1 victory. He signed another improved four-year contract with Stoke in February 2018. Edwards featured seven times for Stoke under

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...

but didn't feature in the second half of the campaign under

Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...

as Stoke suffered relegation to the EFL Championship. Edwards became a regular member of the team in 2018–19 playing 29 times as Stoke ultimately had a forgettable campaign, finishing in 16th place. Edwards was one of Stoke's better performers during the season and earned the praise of manager Nathan Jones. Edwards scored his first goal for Stoke on 22 April 2019 in a 2–2 draw against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. Edwards signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract with Stoke in October 2019. Edwards competed with Tommy Smith for the right-back position at Stoke in 2019–20 and whilst he featured 15 times in the first half of the campaign, manager Michael O'Neill went with Smith until the end of the season.

Fleetwood Town (loan)

In October 2020 Edwards joined EFL League One side Fleetwood Town on loan for the 2020–21 season. Edwards played 12 times for Fleetwood before he was recalled by Stoke in January 2021.

New York Red Bulls (loan)

On 27 January 2021, it was announced that Edwards had joined Major League Soccer side

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

on loan for the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

season. Edwards made 28 appearances for the team as they finished in 7th position in the Eastern Conference, qualifying for the

2021 MLS Cup Playoffs The 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the 2021 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th edition of the MLS Cup Playoffs, the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top soccer league in the United States a ...

where they were defeated 1–0 by Philadelphia Union in the First round. He returned to Stoke in January 2022 but did not get back into the squad after picking up a injury. On 17 February 2022, Edwards returned to

for the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

season.

Barnsley (loan)

On 1 September 2022, Edwards returned to England and signed for League One side Barnsley for the 2022–23 season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 defeat to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in the Round of 32 of the EFL Trophy. Edwards suffered a serious knee injury in January 2023 and his loan spell was cut short.

International career

Edwards was called up to the

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s), represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in En ...

side by Paul Simpson in September 2018 and went on to play in three

Under 20 Elite League The Under 20 Elite League, also known as the European Elite League, is an under-20 (U20) association football tournament founded in 2017. Competed in by national European U20 teams, it is the successor to the Under-20 Four Nations Tournament. The ...

matches.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Tom 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Stafford Association football fullbacks English footballers Stoke City F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players New York Red Bulls players Barnsley F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Major League Soccer players