Alex Mowatt

Alex James Mowatt (born 13 February 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays for Barnsley. He plays as a central midfielder, but has also played as a left winger. He is an England U20 international.

Alex Mowatt
Personal information
Full name Alex James Mowatt[1]
Date of birth (1995-02-13) 13 February 1995[2]
Place of birth Doncaster, England
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Barnsley
Number 27
Youth career
2004–2013 Leeds United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2017 Leeds United 116 (12)
2017– Barnsley 93 (12)
2017–2018 → Oxford United (loan) 30 (2)
National team‡
2014 England U19 1 (0)
2015 England U20 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:32, 7 March 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:14, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

Club career

Leeds United

Mowatt was born in Doncaster and attended Don Valley Academy, whilst playing for junior club Bentley Pumas Doncaster, Mowatt's talents were recognised by Leeds in 2003 and Mowatt was signed to Leeds United's academy at the age of 9. After progressing through Leeds youth ranks, including Captaining Leeds Under 18's, Mowatt signed a professional deal at Leeds.[3] Mowatt captained Leeds Under 18s team managed by Richard Naylor and led the Under 18s to win the Under 18 League Championship during the 2012/13 season. He captained Leeds Under 18s during a 3–1 loss against Liverpool Under 18s on 1 March 2013 at Anfield in Leeds' Under 18s in the FA Youth Cup run.[4] Yorkshire Evening Post's Phil Hay said that Mowatt's performances and style of play was reminiscent to a young Barry Ferguson.[5]

2013–14 season

After his impressive performances in the academy and Neil Redfearn's Development Squad, Mowatt broke into the Leeds team during the 2013–14 season during the pre-season training with the first team. Mowatt was named on the bench for Leeds' first team in a 2–1 win against Chesterfield in the League Cup.[6]

On 27 August 2013, Mowatt made his debut for Leeds when he started his first professional game in Leeds 3–1 victory against Doncaster Rovers in the League Cup.[7][8] After the match, Leeds manager Brian McDermott praised Mowatt's performance.

Mowatt was given his second start for Leeds in the match against Newcastle United in the League Cup, with Mowatt putting in another impressive performance despite a 2–0 loss for Leeds.[9] Mowatt's performance was rewarded when he was named in the starting line-up to make his league debut in a 2–0 defeat away to Millwall.[10] On 5 December 2013, Mowatt signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with the club.[11]

On 1 February 2014, only the day after the alleged sacking of the man who gave Mowatt his debut Brian McDermott, Mowatt scored his first goal for Leeds in a 5–1 victory against local rivals Huddersfield Town.[12]

Mowatt won the Leeds United Young Player of the Season Award at the club's annual awards, on 2 May. He also finished third in the voting for the Fans Player Of The Year Award.[13]

2014–15 season

On 1 August, Mowatt was assigned the number 27 shirt for the 2014–15 season.[14] After picking up an injury against Birmingham City on 26 April 2014[15] and a long spell out injured,[16] Mowatt returned to the Leeds starting 11 making his first appearance of the season against Bolton Wanderers on 30 August 2014.[17]

On 13 September 2014 he scored his first league goal of the 2014–15 season against Birmingham City in a 1–1 draw.[18] Mowatt badly bruised his toe during the game which ruled him out of the following fixture against Bournemouth.[19] Mowatt followed this up with a goal in a 3–1 loss against Cardiff City on 1 November in Neil Redfearn's first game as permanent head coach,[20] in the following game on 4 November Mowatt scored a brace with two long range efforts in a 2–2 draw against Charlton Athletic.[21] After getting three goals and two assists in November, on 4 December Mowatt was shortlisted for the Championship's Player of the Month award,[22] but lost out to Brentford's Andre Gray.[23] Mowatt was handed the Football League's Young Player of the Month award for November on 18 December 2014.[24] Mowatt's reputation increased further during 2015, with him scoring some important goals mostly from long range for Leeds.

He scored a freekick in a 1–0 win against Millwall on 14 February,[25] he followed this up with a long range strike in a 1–0 victory against Middlesbrough on 21 February.[26] He scored another freekick on 4 March in a 2–1 victory against Ipswich Town [27] before following this up with a right footed volley from outside the box in a 1–0 victory against Wigan Athletic on 7 March.[28] His 9th goal of the season came on 6 April in a 4–3 loss against Wolverhampton Wanderers with Mowatt scoring a curling long range effort.[29]

On 9 April, after rumoured Premier League interest in Mowatt and teammates Lewis Cook, Charlie Taylor and Sam Byram, Head Coach Neil Redfearn challenged Leeds United's owners to keep a hold of their home grown talents.[30]

On 1 May 2015, Mowatt was named the Yorkshire Evening Post's Player Of The Year for the 2014–15 season.[31] On 2 May 2015, Mowatt won the Fans' Player Of The Year Award and also the Players' Player Of The Year award at Leeds United's official end of 2014–15 season awards ceremony.[32]

2015–16 season

On 31 July 2015, Mowatt was given the number 10 shirt for the upcoming 2015–16 season.[33] He scored the opening goal in United's 2–0 pre-season win over Everton in what was described by a pundit as a "Barcelona style goal". On 4 November 2015, Mowatt scored an unstoppable shot from 25 yards to the top corner of the goal in the 1–0 victory over Cardiff. On 7 November, Mowatt scored again in the following game with a long-range strike in a 3–0 victory against Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town.[34]

2016–17 season

On 5 August, Mowatt was given the squad number 27 shirt for the 2016–17 season with Marcus Antonsson taking over the number 10 shirt previously held by Mowatt.[35] On 9 January 2017, Mowatt scored his first goal of the season in Leeds' 2–1 FA Cup win against Cambridge United.[36]

Barnsley

On 27 January 2017, Mowatt joined Championship rivals Barnsley on a two-and-a-half-year deal, for an undisclosed fee[37][38][39] reported to be around £600,000.[40] He retained the number 27 shirt he had worn at Leeds United.

2016–17 season

Mowatt arrived under significant pressure to fill the vacancy left by Conor Hourihane who had departed to Aston Villa earlier in the transfer window.[41] He made his debut on 31 January, during which he was sent off just before half time. After his return from suspension he featured regularly until the end of the season, scoring his first goal for Barnsley in the penultimate game of the season in a 3–2 defeat to Bristol City.[42]

Oxford United loan

Mowatt was sent a season-long loan to Oxford United on 31 August 2017[43] after failing to make the impact desired by manager Paul Heckingbottom. Barnsley instead elected to sign Gary Gardner on a season-long loan from Aston Villa to fill the gap in central midfield. Heckingbottom emphasised that Mowatt's loan move was only temporary and that he envisaged a career for Mowatt at Oakwell.

2018–19 season

Mowatt returned to Barnsley ahead of the 2018–19 season after their relegation to League One. He formed a key partnership in midfield with teammate Cameron McGeehan. The pair played together in 39 of Barnsley's 46 league matches, Mowatt appearing in all of them. Mowatt scored his first goal of the season in a 1–1 draw against Plymouth Argyle on 2 October 2018.[44] On 27 October 2018, Mowatt scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 home victory over Bristol Rovers through a left-footed shot from outside the area.[45] On 12 January 2019, Mowatt put in a man of the match performance in a 3–0 victory against Bradford City, assisting the first two goals for Jacob Brown and Kieffer Moore and scoring the third himself.[46] Mowatt scored two goals over Easter weekend, the first in a 2–1 victory over Shrewsbury Town at Oakwell on 19 April 2019, the second in a 3–0 over Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on 22 April 2019.[47]

International career

In October 2013, after being watched by England Under 21s manager Gareth Southgate against Birmingham City, Mowatt was called up to the England U19 for the fixture against Hungary in November.[48]

On 5 March 2014, Mowatt made his England U19 debut in a 3–0 victory against Turkey.[49]

Mowatt was watched by Scotland's assistant, Mark McGhee, during Leeds' 2–0 defeat to Brighton on 24 February. Mowatt qualifies for Scotland through his father's side of the family.[50]

On 25 March 2015, Mowatt was named on the subs bench for England U20 against Mexico, but did not feature in the game. However, four days later Mowatt made his debut against the United States, completing 79 minutes of the match.[51] In December 2015, Leeds head coach Steve Evans revealed that Scotland manager Gordon Strachan had been in touch regarding the possibility of calling up Mowatt for the full Scotland national side.[52]

Career statistics
As of 18 March 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Leeds United 2013–14[53] Championship 291002000311
2014–15[54] Championship 389000000389
2015–16[55] Championship 342101000362
2016–17[56] Championship 150114000201
Total 1161221700012513
Barnsley 2016–17[56] Championship 111000000111
2017–18[57] Championship 1000100020
2018–19[58] League One 46830101[lower-alpha 1]0518
2019–20[59] Championship 353200000373
Total 931250201010112
Oxford United (loan) 2017–18[57] League One 30210103[lower-alpha 1]1353
Career total 23926811004126128
  1. Appearances in the EFL Trophy

Honours

Club

Barnsley

Individual
  • Leeds United Young Player of the Year: 2013–14
  • Football League Young Player of the Month: November 2014
  • Leeds United Players' Player of the Year: 2014–15
  • Leeds United Player of the Year: 2014–15

References
  1. "Professional retain lists & free transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. May 2013. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  2. "Alex Mowatt". 11v11. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  3. "Under 18's Skipper Signs Up". Leeds United F.C. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  4. "FA Youth Cup report: Liverpool FC 3 Leeds United 1". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  5. "Phil Hay: Budding young talent who give Leeds United hope for future". Yorkshire Evening Post. 2 March 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  6. "UNITED SECURE SECOND ROUND SPOT". Leeds United F.C. 7 August 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  7. BBC Sport: Doncaster 1–3 Leeds
  8. Dews, Paul (28 August 2013). "THREE AND EASY CUP SUCCESS". LeedsUnited.com. Leeds United Football Club. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
  9. "CUP EXIT AT NEWCASTLE". Leeds United F.C. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  10. "Millwall 2–0 Leeds" BBC Sport. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  11. "YOUNG STAR SIGNS LONG-TERM DEAL". Leeds United Official Website. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  12. "Leeds United 5 – Huddersfield Town 1". Leeds United Official Site. 1 February 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  13. "AWARDS HAT-TRICK FOR ROSS". Leeds United F.C. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  14. "SQUAD NUMBERS RELEASED". Leeds United. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  15. "Leeds 3 Birmingham 1". BBC Sport. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  16. "Alex Mowatt and Scott Wootton to miss Leeds' trip to Italy". Sky Sports. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  17. "Leeds Vs Bolton Wanderers". Leeds United official site. 30 August 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  18. "Birmingham 1 – 1 Leeds". BBC Sport. 13 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  19. "Bournemouth 1 – 3 Leeds". BBC Sport. 16 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  20. "Cardiff 3 Leeds 1". BBC Sport. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  21. "Leeds 2–2 Charlton: Alex Mowatt shines for Whites as Johann Gudmundsson equalises late on from the penalty spot for Addicks". Daily Mail. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
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  26. "Middlesbrough 0 Leeds United 1: Mowatt shocks leaders Boro". Yorkshire Evening Post. 21 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  27. "Leeds United: Mowatt is becoming a free-kick specialist". Yorkshire Evening Post. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  28. "Leeds beat Wigan 1–0 at the DW Stadium as Alex Mowatt hits winner". Sky Sports. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  29. "Dave Edwards headed home a late winner as Wolves beat Leeds". BBC Sport. 6 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  30. "Keep young stars, Redfearn challenges Leeds". Yorkshire Evening Post. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
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  32. "MOWATT SCOOPS AWARDS NIGHT DOUBLE". Leeds United. 2 May 2015.
  33. "2015/16 SQUAD NUMBERS ANNOUNCED". Leeds United official site. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  34. "Report: Emphatic United Take Derby Spoils". Leeds United official site. 7 November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  35. "2016/17 SQUAD NUMBERS CONFIRMED". Leeds United. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  36. "Cambridge 1 Leeds 2". BBC Sport. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
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  38. "Alex Mowatt is a Red!". Barnsley F.C. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  39. "ALEX MOWATT JOINS BARNSLEY". Leeds United F.C. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  40. Phil Hay (31 January 2017). "Leeds United complete loan deal for Villarreal winger Alfonso Pedraza". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  41. "Delight for Alex Mowatt after he switches from Leeds United to Barnsley". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  42. "REPORT: Bristol City 3-2 Barnsley". www.barnsleyfc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  43. "Oxford United: Alex Mowatt & John Mousinho join League One club". 31 August 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  44. "REPORT: Barnsley 1-1 Portsmouth". www.barnsleyfc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  45. "REPORT: Barnsley 1-0 Bristol Rovers". www.barnsleyfc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  46. "REPORT: Barnsley 3-0 Bradford City". www.barnsleyfc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  47. "REPORT: Plymouth 0-3 Barnsley". www.barnsleyfc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
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  50. "Alex Mowatt set for Scotland call-up?". Yorkshire Evening Post. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  51. http://www.thefa.com/news/england/development/2015/mar/england-u20s-v-usa-match-report
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  55. "Games played by Alex Mowatt in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  56. "Games played by Alex Mowatt in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  57. "Games played by Alex Mowatt in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  58. "Games played by Alex Mowatt in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  59. "Games played by Alex Mowatt in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
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    "Barnsley: Squad details: 2018/19". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
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