Joshua Jon Cullen (born 7 April 1996) is a 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

and the Republic of Ireland national team.

Early life

Cullen was born in

Westcliff-on-Sea Westcliff-on-Sea (often abbreviated to Westcliff) is an inner city area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north shore of the lower Thames Estuary, about 34 m ...

, Essex. His grandparents on his father's side were from

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority f ...

, Ireland. He played junior football for Rayleigh Boys before joining

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

at the age of nine. He attended

St Thomas More High School St Thomas More High School is a Roman Catholic bilateral academy school located in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England. It caters for boys between the ages of 11 and 18 but has a mixed sixth form. The school is larger than the average sized sec ...

Club career

West Ham United

Cullen was first included in a West Ham matchday squad for their

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 Foo ...

fixture against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

at the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacit ...

on 14 March 2015, remaining an unused substitute as they lost 3–0. He was also called up and unused on 9 May, as West Ham lost 1–0 at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

. On 2 July 2015, he made his first-team debut for the club in a 3–0 home victory over

Lusitanos FC Lusitanos, also known as Lusitans, was an Andorran football club from Andorra la Vella which was founded in 1999 and currently play in Segona Divisió. Lusitanos won their first Primera Divisió title in 2011–12 and its second national ch ...

of Andorra in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

first qualifying round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

first leg, replacing

Joey O'Brien Joseph Martin O'Brien (born 17 February 1986) is a retired Irish professional footballer who played as a full-back and defensive midfielder for Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham United and Shamrock Rovers. He was capped 5 times by ...

after 60 minutes; he started in their 1–0 victory in the second leg a week later, making way for Amos Nasha after 63 minutes. With manager

Slaven Bilić Slaven Bilić (; born 11 September 1968) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of EFL Championship side Watford. Bilić, who played as a defender, began his career in 1988 with his hometow ...

putting priority on the team's

performance, he made an array of changes for their third qualifying round second leg away to

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent the ...

on 6 August, including starting Cullen in his first competitive match against a professional opponent. Twenty-three days later he made his

debut, replacing

Diafra Sakho Diafra Sakho (born 24 December 1989) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Nancy. Sakho began his career in the lower divisions of French football, with Metz and on loan at Boulogne, before joining West Ham ...

at the end of a 3–0 win over

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

. Cullen returned from loan at Bolton Wanderers in January 2018 making an appearance in the FA Cup away at

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mov ...

. He was praised for his performance by West Ham manager,

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

, in a poor performance by West Ham which ended 0–0. Cullen also had two front teeth kicked-out accidentally by Shrewsbury player

Abu Ogogo Abumere Tafadzwa "Abu" Ogogo (born 3 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for National League side Southend United. Career Youth and Arsenal Ogogo began his career as a striker with his local Sunday le ...

. In the summer of 2020, Cullen returned to his parent club at the end of his loan spell at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

, where he immediately impressed in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

tie with Charlton. He received significant praise from manager David Moyes after the game. Before West Ham's

fixture with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...

on 23 September 2020, Cullen returned a positive test for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

along with manager

and teammate Issa Diop.

Loans to Bradford City

Cullen signed on loan for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

in February 2016. In March 2016 his loan was extended until the end of the 2015–16 season. On 8 August 2016, Cullen re-signed for Bradford City on a five-month loan deal. He scored his first league goal for the club in the 2–1 victory at MK Dons on 16 August 2016. His loan at the club was extended on 3 January 2017 until the end of the season.

Loan to Bolton Wanderers

On 1 August 2017, Cullen, along with West Ham teammate

Reece Burke Reece Frederick James Burke (born 2 September 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Luton Town. A product of the West Ham United youth system, Burke has also played for Bradford City, where he was the pla ...

, joined

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

on loan until the following January.

Loan to Charlton Athletic

On 30 August 2018, Cullen joined

on loan until the end of the 2018–19 season. He dislocated his shoulder on 6 November 2018 playing against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

, leaving the pitch in the 80th minute. He returned to the first team in January 2019 against

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete histor ...

. On 26 May 2019, Cullen played the full 90 minutes of the League One play-off final as Charlton won 2–1 to return to the Championship. Having spent the season on-loan, he returned to West Ham and played in several pre 2019–20 season friendlies. In August 2019, he returned to Charlton on-loan for the 2019–20 season.

Anderlecht

On 5 October 2020, Cullen joined

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

side

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

on a permanent deal until 30 June 2023, after fifteen years at West Ham. He sent an emotional farewell message to West Ham fans on 12 October 2020 thanking them for their support and citing

Mark Noble Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is well remembered for his time at English club West Ham United, spending eighteen years with the club. Apart from two sh ...

as one of his heroes. Upon joining Anderlecht,

Sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

Peter Verbeken described Cullen as "a true team player known for his winning mentality." On 22 January 2021, Cullen captained Anderlecht for the first time in a 0–0 draw against

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amate ...

, in just his 13th appearance for the club.

Burnley

On 12 July 2022,

signed Cullen on a three-year contract, for an undisclosed fee. He made his Burnley debut on 29 July 2022 in a 1–0 away win against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

. His debut performance was described by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

as "superb".

International career

Having already played for England U16 in 2011, He made his debut for Republic of Ireland U19 in September 2014, in a 1–0 victory against

Netherlands U19 The Netherlands national under-19 football team represents the Netherlands at this age level and is governed by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond — KNVB. They compete in international competitions like the UEFA European Under-19 Champion ...

. On 4 September 2015, he made his debut for Republic of Ireland U21 in a 4–1 victory against Qatar U23 in a friendly at

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gig ...

. On 25 March 2017, Cullen captained the Republic of Ireland U21s to a win 1–0 win over Kosovo U21 in a UEFA Under-21 has Championship Qualifier. On 15 March 2019, Cullen received his first international call-up to the senior Republic of Ireland national team. He made his full debut on 10 September 2019, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–1 win against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...

Career statistics

International

Honours

Charlton Athletic *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual * EFL League One Player of the Month: April 2017 * Republic of Ireland U21 Player of the Year: 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cullen, Josh 1996 births Living people People from Westcliff-on-Sea Sportspeople from Essex English footballers England youth international footballers Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players English people of Irish descent R.S.C. Anderlecht players Burnley F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Belgian Pro League players