Amarii Bell

Early life and career

Bell was born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, and raised in the Quinton district of Birmingham, where he attended Four Dwellings High School. As a youngster he was in the youth system at West Bromwich Albion before moving on to Solihull Moors, and he joined Birmingham City's academy in 2011. In June 2012, Bell signed a one-year professional contract. He played regularly for the development squad during the 2012–13 season, and was rewarded with another one-year contract, with the option of a further year.

In July 2013, Bell joined Conference Premier club Nuneaton Town on loan until the following January. He made his debut in the opening match of the season, a 1–0 win at Macclesfield Town, playing at left wing-back. According to the local newspaper, he "shone", though the player himself was more critical, recognising the need to minimise errors such as "a bit at the end where I took a poor touch and they could have scored from it." He kept his place in the starting eleven as Nuneaton went unbeaten for the first nine matches, apart from one match missed with a dead leg, but was suddenly recalled by his parent club on 20 September.

First-team debut with Birmingham City

Bell was given a squad number, and was considered for a defensive role ahead of Birmingham's third round League Cup match against Swansea City on 25 September, with Kyle Bartley ineligible and David Murphy rested after returning only recently from long-term injury. He played no part in the match, not even as an unused substitute, and returned to Nuneaton a couple of days later. Bell re-established himself at left back, playing a further eleven times in the Conference Premier and once in the FA Cup, before Birmingham recalled him again on 9 December after starting left-back Mitch Hancox damaged a knee and with Murphy again unfit.

He was included among the substitutes for Birmingham's next match, a 2–0 win away to AFC Bournemouth, but remained unused. Bell made his first-team debut on 28 January 2014, starting at left back against Championship leaders Leicester City as a late replacement for Hancox who had injured an ankle. He played the whole of the 2–1 defeat.

More loan spells

That was his last first-team appearance before he joined Conference Premier club Kidderminster Harriers on 6 March, on a youth loan until the end of the season. For the second time that season, he made his club debut in a win against Macclesfield, on this occasion as a stoppage-time substitute as Kidderminster held on to a 2–1 lead. On 15 April, he scored his first goal in senior football to open the scoring in a 2–0 win against Cambridge United.

Ahead of the 2014–15 season, Bell signed for League Two club Mansfield Town on loan until January 2015, but was recalled only three matches into the campaign having failed to get any playing time. On 26 September 2014, he joined Swindon Town of League One on a youth loan until 3 January 2015. He hoped to regain self-belief by playing matches as part of a confident team, and went straight into the starting eleven for Swindon's 3–0 win away to Barnsley. Bell started six matches during October, displacing Liverpool loanee Brad Smith, but then lost his place to another loanee, Harry Toffolo, and for the remainder of his time with the club was used mainly as a late substitute or not at all.

In March, Bell joined League One Gillingham on loan until the end of the season. He went straight into the starting eleven in place of the injured Joe Martin for the match against Colchester United, which Gillingham drew 2–2, and started the next five matches, but then lost his place and made only one more appearance, as a very late substitute.

Fleetwood Town

Birmingham decided not to take up their option of a further year on Bell's contract, and confirmed he would be released. Despite reported interest from Gillingham, Bell agreed to join League One club Fleetwood Town on 1 July after the expiry of his Birmingham contract. He went straight into the side at left wing back. In his fourth match, a 4–3 win away to Bury, he provided the assist for his fellow wing-back Tyler Forbes' first Football League goal, and in the following match, he set up two goals in a 4–0 defeat of Colchester United. Assistant manager Chris Lucketti was impressed with both Bell and Forbes: "with their athleticism, their attitude, their will to win and the running power they have they were different class – it turned the tide in our favour."

Fleetwood form and results dipped, Graham Alexander was replaced as manager by Steven Pressley, and Bell himself was struggling: after a home defeat against Chesterfield at the end of October, the Blackpool Gazette wrote that "Bell's shortcomings at left back are becoming more difficult to ignore", while Pressley said he needed more self-belief. He helped Fleetwood reach the Northern Final of the Football League Trophy, but missed his penalty as they lost to Barnsley in a shootout. By March, Pressley was suggesting that Bell had the attributes to play at the top level, highlighting his pace, athleticism and ability in a one-to-one situation but also his need to work on crossing, an issue raised by the player himself early in the season. He made 51 appearances in all competitions as Fleetwood narrowly avoided relegation to League Two, and was one of a four-man shortlist for the club's Young Player of the Year awards, but lost out to Ashley Hunter.

He missed some of the 2016–17 pre-season with a hamstring problem, but that did not prevent Bell becoming a first-team regular under yet another new manager, Uwe Rösler. Being used at wing-back rather than full-back helped his attacking ambitions, and he scored his first goal for Fleetwood in his 71st match, an FA Cup replay against Southport on 15 November 2016, and his second in the league the following week. In the January 2017 transfer window, there was interest in Bell from clubs including Brighton & Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and West Ham United. Rösler said that Bell had added consistency to his game, and would do better staying at Fleetwood until at least the end of the season, "to reach another level. He does not want to go to a football club and be a sub. He wants to be bought for a lot of money and go right in there as their left-back." He stayed, and contributed a late equaliser against Chesterfield that kept Fleetwood's run going on its way to 18 matches unbeaten. He ended the season with 53 appearances, taking his total for Fleetwood to 104, as they reached and lost to Bradford City in the play-offs.

Career statistics