Nathan Dean Joshua Wood-Gordon (born 31 May 2002), known as Nathan Wood, 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Early life

Wood is the son of former

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 buildin ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

player

Dean Gordon Dean Dwight Gordon (born 10 February 1973) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left-back between 1991 and 2009 in his native England as well as Cyprus and New Zealand. He notably played Premier League football for Crys ...

. He came from an athletic background, having taken part in various sporting competitions throughout 2014 and 2015. Prior to joining the Middlesbrough academy squad in 2015, he played for TIBS and Stockton Town. He attended Conyers School in

Yarm Yarm-on-Tees, or simply Yarm, is a market town in North Yorkshire, England. It lies on a meander of the River Tees, extending south-east to the River Leven, North Yorkshire, River Leven and south to the village of Kirklevington. A civil parish i ...

, this led to him featuring in the twelfth episode in the

first series First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

educational

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

series '' Our School'' in 2014, during this time he was in year 7, his first year in

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Club career

Middlesbrough

On 1 July 2018, Wood signed professional terms with

. He would become the club's youngest ever player to make a professional appearance, at 16 years and 72 days, replacing Daniel Ayala in an

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

tie against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

on 14 August 2018. On 1 February 2021, Wood joined

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

side

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2020–21 season. He made his Crewe debut in a 2–1 defeat at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

on 20 February 2021. On 31 August 2021, Wood moved north of the border to join

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

on a season-long loan deal. On 16 October 2021, Wood made his debut for

, where he played the full game in a 3–0 loss against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. On 25 November 2021, it was announced that Wood had returned to parent club Middlesbrough for the remainder of his loan spell until January 2022, having only featured once for Hibs.

Swansea City

On 10 June 2022, Wood joined

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. Wood's new manager Russell Martin was a long-term admirer and had previously tried to sign the defender when in charge of

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

Southampton

On 5 July 2024, Wood joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for the club on 28 August 2024 in a 5–3 away victory against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

in the EFL Cup. On 4 December 2024, Wood made his Premier League debut in a 5–1 home defeat against Chelsea.

International career

Wood has represented England at U15, U16,

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

and U18 level. On 6 September 2021, Wood made his debut for the England U20s during a 6–1 victory over Romania U20s at St. George's Park. On 28 March 2023, Wood made his

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

debut during a 2–1 defeat to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

Style of play

Wood is known to be a pacey player and has previously played as a left-midfielder as a result of this. He recorded a

100m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

time of 13.07 seconds when he was aged 13.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Nathan 2002 births Living people People from the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees Footballers from North Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Middlesbrough F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Southampton F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Premier League players England men's youth international footballers Black British sportsmen 21st-century Black British people 21st-century English sportsmen