Joshua Ishaele Jacob-Heron Hunt-Laurent (commonly known as Laurent, born 6 May 1995) 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 ...

for club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. Laurent began his professional career with

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 ...

in 2013. After a loan spell at

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 ...

he moved on to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in January 2015 and was loaned out to Newport County. In January 2016, Laurent joined

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

on a free transfer. He went on to play for

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, Bury and

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 ...

before earning a move to Championship side

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 ...

in July 2020. In his first season with the Royals Laurent won the clubs player of the season award. After two years with Reading, Laurent joined

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

in June 2022.

Club career

Early career

Laurent was born in

Leytonstone Leytonstone ( ) is an area in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the nor ...

and attended

Beal High School Beal High School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with Academy (English school), academy status, located in Redbridge, London, Redbridge, Greater London, England. The school begins at Year 7 and continues with compulsory schoo ...

. Laurent began his career in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

s at Chelsea, Redbridge (where his father Burt was coach) and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

and signed a scholarship deal with the latter club in 2011. After 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 ...

club

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Queens Park Rangers

Laurent moved into the academy at

prior to the beginning of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. He made 20 appearances in the youth team's victorious 2012–13 Professional U18 Development League 2 campaign and played the full 90 minutes of the 1–0 win over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

in the final. Laurent signed his first professional contract in May 2013, a one-year deal. Laurent continued to play in the Development Squad through the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons. Laurent signed for

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

side

on a one-month loan on 17 February 2014. He made the first senior appearance of his career with a start in a 2–2 draw with

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

five days later. Laurent won praise for his performances from manager

Alan Devonshire Alan Ernest Devonshire (born 13 April 1956) is an English former professional footballer who is the manager of Maidenhead United. He was a wide midfielder who played for West Ham United, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1980, and Watford, where h ...

and remained at

Cressing Road Cressing Road, also known as the Rare Breed Meat Co. Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in Braintree, Essex, and the home ground of Braintree Town, and formally their reserve side. It currently has a capacity of 4,222. H ...

for a second month, before departing after his 16th appearance on 12 April. He departed QPR on 14 January 2015. The departure of Laurent caused a "reaction" at

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

, with the supporters questioning the club's commitment to its younger players. On 23 January, Rangers' Head of Football Operations

Les Ferdinand Leslie Ferdinand (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit. A striker, his playing career included notable spells in the Premier League with Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle United, ...

revealed that he had been unable to convince Laurent that there was a pathway from the Development Squad to the first team.

Brentford

On 14 January 2015, Laurent moved across West

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to sign for

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

on a one-and-a-half-year Development Squad deal for an undisclosed fee. Laurent signed for League Two side Newport County on a 28-day youth loan on 19 August 2015, which was later extended to 14 October. He made his debut (the first

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 ...

appearance of his career) as a 74th-minute substitute for

Scott Boden Scott David Boden (born 19 December 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Retford FC. Career Boden was born in Streatham. In 2008, Boden was loaned out from Sheffield United to play five matches for IFK M ...

in a 3–2 defeat to

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. ...

three days later. He made his first start for the club on 1 September, playing the opening 73 minutes of the Exiles'

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

defeat to

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 ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

first round. Laurent was left out of incoming manager John Sheridan's first squad on 3 October and was recalled by Brentford five days later, having made four appearances. He made his only first team appearance in the League Cup first round versus

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

on 11 August, playing the full 90 minutes of the 4–0 defeat. Laurent failed to feature in another first team squad before his contract was terminated by mutual consent on 1 February 2016. He made 21 appearances and scored five goals for the Development Squad.

Hartlepool United

On 1 February 2016, Laurent joined League Two club

on a free transfer. Laurent scored his first and only goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat to

on 22 October 2016 and remained with the club until February 2017, by which time he had made 33 appearances.

Wigan Athletic

On 1 February 2017, Laurent joined Championship club

on a two-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made just one appearance before the end of the 2016–17 season, at the end of which the Latics were relegated to League One. He scored his only goal for Wigan in a 2–1 EFL Cup win against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

on 8 August 2017. On 31 August 2017, Bury signed Laurent on loan for the rest of the 2017–18 season. He played 22 games for the Shakers scoring once as they suffered relegation to League Two.

Shrewsbury Town

On 23 July 2018, Laurent 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

on a two-year deal. He was a first-team regular during his first season at the club, making a notable contribution in the third-round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, where he both won the penalty that led to Shrewsbury's equaliser and then went on to score the winning goal against

side

. Laurent became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

after his contract expired at the end of the

2019–20 EFL League One The 2019–20 EFL League One (referred to as the Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th season of Football League One under its current title and the 28th season under its current league division format. Newly promoted Bury w ...

season.

Reading

On 28 July 2020, Laurent joined Championship club

on a two-year contract. He scored his first goal for Reading in a 4–2 win over

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on 27 October 2020. Laurent made 46 appearances, scoring three goals in

2020–21 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 ...

as the Royals missed out on a play-off position finishing in seventh. Prior to Reading's last game of the season, on 8 May 2021, Laurent was announced as the clubs player of the season. In 2021–22, Laurent played 42 times as Reading struggled at the foot of table, finishing four points above the relegation zone.

Stoke City

On 21 June 2022, Laurent joined

a three-year contract. He scored his first goal for Stoke on 29 January 2023 in an

tie against

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

. He scored his first league goals in a 3–1 win against

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 21 February 2023. In the 2022–23 season, Laurent scored five goals in 36 appearances as Stoke finished in 16th. He was appointed club captain by Alex Neil ahead of the 2023–24 season, taking over from Lewis Baker. Laurent made 40 appearances for Stoke in 2023–24 as the team avoided relegation, finishing in 17th.

Burnley

Laurent signed for

on 30 August 2024 for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Player of the Season:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurent, Josh 1995 births Living people English men's footballers English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent Men's association football midfielders Brentford F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players National League (English football) players Footballers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest People from Leytonstone Newport County A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Bury F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Men's association football central defenders English Football League players Black British sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen