Diaz Ray Wright (born 22 February 1998) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, most recently for club

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

. The son of former

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

and

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, ...

midfielder

Jermaine Wright Jermaine Malaki Wright (born 21 October 1975 in Greenwich) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder and could also operate as a defender. Football career Wright started his career at Millwall as a trainee, but moved to Wolver ...

and brother to

Drey Wright Drey Jermaine Wright (born 30 April 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back, right wing-back or right winger. He currently plays for club Dundee. The son of former Ipswich Town and Southampton midfielder Jermaine ...

, Wright has progressed through the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

since joining the club at under-13 level, before making his debut in August 2016. He joined

Needham Market Needham Market is a small town in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, set in the Gipping Valley. Nearby villages include Barking, Suffolk, Barking, Darmsden, Badley and Creeting St Mary. The town is located just east of the A14 road ( ...

on loan in October 2017, and

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team of the ...

on loan in March 2018, helping the club to promotion through the

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

play-offs in May 2018. He joined

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

on loan in December 2019 and

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

in January 2020. Wright was released by Colchester in May 2021.

Career

Born in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, London, Wright is the son of former

and

midfielder

and brother to

. Wright joined

at under-13 level and has progressed through the age groups. He signed a one-year professional development contract with Colchester in June 2016. He was named on the first-team bench for the first time on 30 August 2016 for Colchester's

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

trip to

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

. He made his debut in the game, replacing Tom Lapslie after 62-minutes of the 1–0 defeat. On 3 July 2017, Wright signed a new one-year contract with Colchester United. Wright joined

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division side

on loan on 16 October 2017, initially signing until the end of November. He made his debut on 17 October in a 1–0 defeat at

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

, before scoring his first goal on 11 November in a 3–1

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

qualifying round defeat to Brentwood Town. In March 2018, Wright joined

side

on loan for one month. After making his debut in a 2–2 draw with

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

, Braintree manager Brad Quinton praised Wright's maturity and hoped that the team could hold on to him until the end of the season. He helped the club to promotion in the National League play-offs in May 2018 as he scored the winning goal in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

against Hampton & Richmond Borough. Wright signed a new one-year contract with Colchester in May 2018. On 1 September 2018, Wright made his

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut and his first appearance of the season for Colchester when he appeared as a substitute for

Brandon Comley Brandon Comley (born 18 November 1995) is a professional footballer who plays for side Walsall. Born in England, he plays for the Montserrat national team. Comley came through the Queens Park Rangers Academy, joining at the age of nine and ma ...

in their 3–1 League Two win against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

. Wright joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side

in December 2019, initially until 6 January 2020. He made his debut in Dagenham's

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

win over

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

in the

, playing the full 120 minutes. After his Dagenham loan, Wright joined

alongside Colchester teammate Cameron James on loan for one month on 10 January 2020. He made his debut the next day in a 1–0 defeat to Wealdstone. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 victory against Hungerford Town on 18 January. His loan was extended for a further month on 4 March. After making only 14 first team appearances for Colchester in five years, with his last in March 2019, Wright was released by the club in May 2021.

Career statistics

Honours

;Braintree Town *

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

: 2017–18

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Diaz 1998 births Living people Footballers from the Royal Borough of Greenwich People from Greenwich English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Colchester United F.C. players Needham Market F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Isthmian League players National League (English football) players English Football League players Diaz 21st-century English sportsmen