Matthew Anthony Willock (born 20 August 1996) is a 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

central 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 ...

. Born in England, he represents the Montserrat national team. Willock began his football career with

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 ...

before moving to

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, where he spent seven years. He went on loan to Dutch team

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

in 2017, and Scottish clubs

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

and St Mirren the following year. In 2019, he went on loan 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 ...

before being released by United, subsequently being signed by Gillingham, where he spent two years, then Salford City, where he remained for only one season. He has been a free agent since the end of the 2021–22 season.

Club career

Early career

Willock had a spell with the

youth ranks up until 2011, when he was released at the age of 15. He subsequently had trials with

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 ...

team

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

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 ...

team

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 ...

prior to joining

in 2012.

Manchester United

He first featured for 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 ...

at the 2012 Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament before playing for the Under-18s domestically, the Under-19s in 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 ...

and then the Under-23s. He appeared on the senior squad's bench twice during the 2016–17 season, being an unused substitute in home matches against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

. He signed a new two-year contract in August 2017, prior to leaving on loan. On 7 June 2019, it was announced that, on 30 June, Willock would leave the club following the expiration of his contract.

FC Utrecht loan

On 31 August 2017, Willock was loaned out to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side

for the season. He was assigned the number 26 shirt. However, his first match in Utrecht colours came for the reserve team in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

, making his professional debut in a 4–1 loss at home to

De Graafschap Vereniging Betaald Voetbal De Graafschap, simply known as De Graafschap () is a professional association football club based in Doetinchem, Netherlands. The team competes in the , the second level of the Dutch football league system. Founded o ...

. On 20 September, Willock made his first start for the senior squad in a

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

first round tie against Ajax Amateurs at the

Amsterdam Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of association football, football club AFC Ajax, Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to ...

, he scored the fifth goal in a 6–0 victory. His Eredivisie debut came on 1 October in an away draw versus Vitesse. After five first-team appearances and one goal for FC Utrecht in all competitions, Willock's loan was terminated on 31 January 2018.

St Johnstone loan

On 31 January 2018, Willock completed a loan move to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

team

until June. He made his debut for St Johnstone in a 1–0 defeat to Heart of Midlothian on 3 February. His first goal for St Johnstone – and his first professional goal in British football – arrived on 31 March during a loss away against

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

St Mirren loan

In July 2018, Willock moved on loan to

club St Mirren. After featuring fourteen times in league and cup for St Mirren, Willock had his loan terminated on 21 December.

Crawley Town loan

On 31 January 2019, Willock 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

on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. Having appeared in eleven matches for Crawley as they finished nineteenth, he returned to his parent club on 8 May.

Gillingham

Willock completed a move to Gillingham of

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 ...

on 13 June 2019. He scored on his unofficial debut for the club, netting in a nine-goal pre-season victory away to Faversham Town on 6 July. After suffering a hamstring injury soon after, Willock made his Gillingham debut on 31 August during a 5–0 victory over

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. At the end of the 2020–21 season, it was announced that the Kent club would not be renewing Willock's contract and he would therefore be departing after two seasons.

Salford City

After spending two weeks on trial, he signed for League Two club Salford City on 4 August. Starting in central midfield on his début on 7 August, he scored Salford's equaliser in their opening game of the season in a 1–1 draw against

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. ...

, described by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

as a "30-yard thunderbolt". He was released by Salford at the end of the 2021–22 season.

International career

Willock was called up to the Montserrat squad for

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

in June 2021. He debuted with Montserrat in a 4–0

win over the US Virgin Islands on 2 June 2021.

Personal life

He has two brothers,

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

and Joe, who are also professional footballers. All three brothers shared a pitch when Manchester United played a reserve game against Arsenal in May 2017.

Paul Scholes Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football pundit, coach and former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Scholes spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom h ...

Patrick Vieira Patrick Paul Vieira (; born 23 June 1976) is a French professional association football, football manager and former player who is the head coach of Serie A club Genoa CFC, Genoa. He was named in the FIFA 100 of the greatest living footballers i ...

and

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime at A.C. Milan, AC Mil ...

were his heroes growing up.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willock, Matty 1996 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest Montserratian men's footballers Montserrat men's international footballers English men's footballers English people of Montserratian descent Men's association football midfielders English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players Jong FC Utrecht players FC Utrecht players Salford City F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Black British sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen