William Greenwell Ions (born 11 March 1994) is an English former 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 played as a forward. He played youth football with CD Tenerife, Newcastle United, and Leeds United. After being released by Leeds United, Ions joined the Nike Academy. He started his professional career with

PS Kemi The Palloseura Kemi Kings is a Finnish football team based in the town of Kemi, that competes in the Kolmonen. The club have spent three seasons in the top flight in their history. History The club was established on October 21, 1999. Kemi Kin ...

Early life

Ions, born in

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, moved to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

in Spain with his family at a young age. While in Spain, he idolised England national team star

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

forward

Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He is the curr ...

to whom he compared himself to.

Career

Early career

Ions first started playing football in the youth team of the local village of Valle de San Lorenzo in Tenerife, named "Constanza". Years later he started to play in the football school of Juan Miguel.

Tenerife

At the age of 15, Ions joined the youth setup at

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

Newcastle United

In February 2010, he returned to England to join

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, the club he supported as a child. He made his Under-18's debut in a home match against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Leeds United

Ions left on a free transfer to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

in September 2012. While at Leeds, he played for the under-18 side. He started in a match against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and scored a goal.

Nike Academy

Without a club, Ions joined the Nike Academy. During his time there he was mostly injured. While at the Nike Academy, he played in a friendly match against PS Kemi Kings whose attention he attracted after a good performance.

Palloseura Kemi Kings

Ions joined PS Kemi Kings after his impressive performance against them in a friendly match with the Nike Academy. His manager after signing was fellow Englishman and former

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

defender

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), centre-forward and was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United ...

. For most of his time at the club he has played on the left wing. In his second season at the club Ions helped PS Kemi reach promotion for the first time since 2011. In the 2015 season he had another successful year, gaining back to back to promotions with the club reaching the top division. Ions was voted best player of the league by other players at the end of the season.

Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho

On 11 August 2016, Ions agreed to move on loan to SJK for the remainder of the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, commencing on 21 August 2016. SJK also announced that Ions had agreed to join the club permanently upon the completion of the loan deal, for two-seasons.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ions, Billy 1994 births Footballers from Ashington Living people Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers Kemi City F.C. players West Auckland Town F.C. players Newcastle Benfield F.C. players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Expatriate men's footballers in Finland English expatriate sportspeople in Finland English expatriate men's footballers Nike Academy players 21st-century English sportsmen SJK Akatemia players