Jayden Darren George Wareham (born 13 May 2003) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Career

Woking

Wareham started his career at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and then

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

before he was released in 2019 and eventually joining

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,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

. After impressing for the under-18 and under-23 sides, he made his debut for The Cards in January 2020, during a 6–2 away defeat to

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, ...

, replacing Jake Gray with four minutes remaining. Wareham played two more times in this campaign, and was also named the club's academy player of the year, before signing a new one-year contract with the

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

-based side in October 2020. On 26 January 2021, he scored his first goals for the club coming off the bench to rescue a point in a 2–2 away draw against

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, netting in both the 72nd and 86th minute. During his two-year spell at Woking, Wareham accolated twenty appearances to his name, scoring twice with both coming against Bromley, before earning himself a trial with

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 ...

side, Chelsea in March 2021.

Chelsea

Following a successful trial period, in which he featured three times, scoring once for the under-18 side, Wareham agreed a move to Chelsea in May 2021, signing a two-year deal. Upon his arrival he was placed into the under-23 side for the 2021–22 campaign and went onto feature twenty-seven times, finishing the season as the age group's top goal scorer with seven goals to his name, with notable goals coming in the

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 ...

and the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

. On 16 June 2023, Chelsea announced that Wareham would leave the club when his contract expired at the end of June.

Loan to Leyton Orient

On 1 September 2022, Wareham joined

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

side

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

on a season-long loan. It took the

Ascot Ascot, Ascott or Askot may refer to: Places Australia * Ascot, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane * Ascot, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a locality * Ascot Park, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide * Ascot (Ballarat), town near Ballarat in Victoria ...

-born striker just over two weeks to make his Leyton Orient debut, with it coming during an EFL Trophy group stage tie against

, in which he netted two goals within the first 10 minutes of the eventual 3–1 victory. These goals proved to be his only contribution in an Orient shirt, with Chelsea cutting the loan short in January 2023. He returned to

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

with seven appearances and two goals to his name during the six-month spell.

Reading

On 1 September 2023, Wareham returned to his boyhood club, Reading signing a one-year deal following his release from Chelsea. Later that month, he made his debut for the club starting in their historic 9–0 away victory over

in the EFL Trophy, featuring for just over an hour. On 8 May 2024, Reading activated a one-year extension to Wareham's contract, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2025. He scored his first goal for Reading in an

tie against West Ham United U21s on 20 August 2024. Wareham scored his first league goal for Reading in a 2-1 away win against Exeter City on 22 October 2024, before scoring his first league goal at the

Select Car Leasing Stadium The Madejski Stadium (), currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Association football, football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Berkshire, England. It is the home of Reading F.C., Reading Football ...

11 February 2025 in a 1-1 draw against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

Exeter

On 26 June 2025,

announced they had signed Wareham on a two-year deal, with a club option of a third year, for an undisclosed fee.

Career statistics

Honours

Leyton Orient *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wareham, Jayden 2003 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Woking F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Reading F.C. players National League (English football) players Place of birth missing (living people) English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen