Ezekiel David Fryers (born 9 September 1992) 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

AFC Eskilstuna Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, is a Swedish professional football club based in Eskilstuna. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching owne ...

. He began his career at

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 made his first team debut appearance, he left United and was bought by Belgian club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

, where he spent a year before returning to England with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. After another season, he was sold to

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 ...

, where he made appearances again in the first team. He spent time on loan at

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

and

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 ...

before he was released. He signed for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

in 2017, but was again released at the end of the 2018–19 season and joined

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 ...

. He left Swindon after his contract expired in 2021, ultimately signing for

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

until the end of the 2021–22 season, but he left after four months. Fryers is a youth international, having played for the England under-16, under-17 and under-19 teams.

Career

Manchester United

Fryers began his football career at Fletcher Moss Rangers. During the 2010–11 season, Fryers suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out for most of the season. Fryers made his senior debut for Manchester United in the League Cup on 20 September 2011, starting alongside

Michael Carrick Michael Carrick (born 28 July 1981) is an English professional Association football, football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of club Middlesbrough F.C., Middlesbrough. He is considered as one of the best midfield ...

in central defence in United's third round 3–0 victory over rivals

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. He then played in their 3–0 fourth round win against

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

on 25 October, appearing as a

. On 2 November, he was a late substitute for

Jonny Evans Jonathan Grant Evans (born 3 January 1988) is a Northern Irish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Evans started his career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, having progressed throug ...

during a 2–0 win against Oțelul Galați in a Champions League group stage match at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut in a game against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Patrice Evra Patrice Latyr Evra (; born 15 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer. Originally a forward, he primarily played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. He was named in the P ...

in the 68th minute; the game finished 4–1. On 26 December 2011, Fryers continued to press for more inclusions as a 46th-minute substitute for Jonny Evans in a league match against

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 ...

. In February 2012,

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 ...

carried a story suggesting that Fryers could follow fellow academy product

Ravel Morrison Ravel Ryan Morrison (born 2 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for UAE Second Division League club Precision. Morrison rose through the youth ranks at Manchester United where he was considered as one of their ...

out of Old Trafford at the end of the 2011–12 season. On 4 July 2012,

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

stated in an interview: "We haven't heard anything from Zeki Fryers, I don't know what's happening there but he's not been in touch with the club. His agent hasn't been in touch with the club and I can only assume he'll be back for training."

Standard Liège

Fryers spent the summer training with

ahead of a proposed transfer, but the two clubs were unable to agree on a compensation package (in England, when a player under the age of 23 leaves a club at the end of his contract, his new club must pay a fee to his old club as compensation for having trained him up). Belgian club

also expressed interest in Fryers, and as they are not an English club, they did not have to pay Manchester United the same level of compensation. Fryers signed a two-year contract with Liège on 23 August 2012. Fryers played in seven matches for Standard, but with the sacking of

Ron Jans Ron Jans (; born 29 September 1958) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player, who is the head coach of FC Utrecht, Utrecht. Coaching career Groningen Born in Zwolle, Overijssel ...

in November, he was left out of the squad and ultimately reported to his agent that he was homesick.

Tottenham Hotspur

With Fryers out of favour in Belgium, Tottenham renewed their interest in him in the January 2013 transfer window and reached an agreement with

to sign him. The transfer was criticised by the then Manchester United manager

, who accused Tottenham of "blatant manipulation" of the rules, having attempted to sign Fryers directly from United in the previous transfer window. Upon signing, Fryers was made part of Tottenham's development squad. During the Asia Cup competition, in July 2013, Tottenham brought Fryers on as a substitute, where he played at left-back for the remainder of the game.

Crystal Palace

On 1 September 2014, Fryers signed a three-year deal with

for an undisclosed fee. The defender was released from his contract on 30 June 2017.

Loan moves

After making only one three-minute substitute appearance in the League for Crystal Palace, Fryers joined

on a one-month loan on 16 January 2015. On 26 March 2015, Fryers signed for

on loan until the end of the 2014–15 season, alongside Crystal Palace teammate Jonny Williams.

Barnsley

On 1 July 2017, it was announced that Fryers had joined

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 ...

club

on a three-year contract. He was released by Barnsley at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Swindon Town

After his release from Barnsley, Fryers signed for

on a two-year deal. On 14 May 2021 it was announced that he would leave Swindon at the end of the season, following the expiry of his contract.

Stockport County

After being a free agent for under four months, on 11 September,

announced that they signed Fryers on a one-year deal. Fryers left Stockport after four months with the club, having made six appearances.

Welling United

On 2 April 2022, Fryers signed for

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 ...

side

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 ...

Macclesfield

On 19 May 2022, Fryers signed for Northern Premier League Division One West side

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

but left by mutual consent in October 2022. In February 2023, Fryers joined

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

side

on a deal until the end of the season.

Career statistics

Honours

Swindon Town *

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 ...

: 2019–20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fryers, Zeki 1992 births Living people People educated at North Cestrian Grammar School Black British sportsmen Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Fletcher Moss Rangers F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Standard Liège players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Macclesfield F.C. players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players National League (English football) players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium AFC Eskilstuna players English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden 21st-century English sportsmen