Jamal Piaras Lewis (born 25 January 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back for EFL Championship club Watford, on loan from Premier League club Newcastle United. Born in England, he plays international football for Northern Ireland.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Jamal Piaras Lewis[1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | 25 January 1998||
Place of birth | Luton, England | ||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Left-back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team |
Watford (on loan from Newcastle United) | ||
Number | 6 | ||
Youth career | |||
2009–2013 | Luton Town | ||
2014–2016 | Norwich City | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2016–2020 | Norwich City | 92 | (1) |
2020– | Newcastle United | 31 | (0) |
2023– | → Watford (loan) | 35 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2016 | Northern Ireland U19 | 3 | (0) |
2017 | Northern Ireland U21 | 1 | (0) |
2018– | Northern Ireland | 34 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20 April 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:50, 25 November 2023 (UTC) |
When he was young, Lewis was a talented athlete competing at national level for his age-group over 800m and 1500m.[3] He represented England Schools in athletics[3][4] and finished second in the English Schools' U17 cross-country in 2014.[5]
Lewis started his football career as a youth player with his home-town club Luton Town,[5] with whom he won the Aarau Masters, a European 5-a-side Under-11 Championship in 2009.[6] He left Luton Town in 2013 to focus on his prospects as a national-level 800-metre runner.[7]
Lewis returned to professional football in 2014, signing for Norwich City.[5]
During the 2016–17 season, he played for the Norwich U23 team.[8] At the end of the 2016–17 season, Lewis signed a new contract until 2021.[8] In December 2017, Lewis made his senior debut for Norwich City against Brentford, coming on as a substitute for Marco Stiepermann.[9] On Boxing Day 2017, he made his first start for Norwich against Birmingham City.[10] He scored his first senior goal in the 93rd minute of an FA Cup third round replay against Chelsea in January 2018.[11]
Lewis was named the EFL Young Player of the Month for September 2018,[3] and in October 2018, he was rewarded with a new long-term contract which ran until June 2023.[12]
In March 2019 he was named in the 2018–19 PFA Championship Team of the Year, alongside team-mates Max Aarons and Teemu Pukki.[13] Lewis made 28 appearances for Norwich City in the 2019–20 Premier League.[14] In August 2020, Norwich rejected a £10 million bid from Liverpool for Lewis.[15]
Lewis signed a five-year contract with Newcastle United on 8 September 2020.[16] His performances though were often unconvincing and he quickly fell out of favour, so much so that in January 2022 he was omitted from the 25-player squad list for the remainder of the season.[17]
On 27 July 2023, Championship side Watford announced the signing of Lewis from Newcastle on a season-long loan, with a future option to make the move permanent.[18]
Though born in England, Lewis was eligible to play for Northern Ireland through his Belfast-born mother.[1] He first represented the country in 2016, making three appearances for the U19 team.[1] In June 2017, he was called up to the U21 team and made his U21 debut against Estonia.[19]
In March 2018, he was called up to the Northern Ireland senior squad for the first time.[20] He made his senior international debut in a 2–1 friendly win over South Korea on 24 March 2018.[21]
On 9 October 2021, Lewis was sent off in the first half in an eventual 2–0 loss to Switzerland. His first yellow was for a rash challenge on Breel Embolo, but his second was for timewasting after he struggled to find a teammate from a throw-in. Manager Ian Baraclough said that the decision to send Lewis off was "diabolical" and it changed the course of the game.[22][23]
Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Norwich City | 2016–17[24] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
2017–18[25] | Championship | 22 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 24 | 1 | ||
2018–19[26] | Championship | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 44 | 0 | ||
2019–20[27] | Premier League | 28 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 32 | 1 | ||
Total | 92 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 100 | 2 | |||
Newcastle United | 2020–21[28] | Premier League | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 26 | 0 | |
2021–22[29] | Premier League | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | ||
2022–23[30] | Premier League | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | ||
Total | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 36 | 0 | |||
Watford (loan) | 2023–24[31] | Championship | 35 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 37 | 0 | |
Total | 35 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 37 | 0 | |||
Career total | 158 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 0 | — | 173 | 2 |
National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
Northern Ireland | 2018 | 6 | 0 |
2019 | 6 | 0 | |
2020 | 6 | 0 | |
2021 | 8 | 0 | |
2022 | 2 | 0 | |
2023 | 6 | 0 | |
Total | 34 | 0 |
Norwich City
Individual