David Jones (footballer, born 1984)

Manchester United

Born in Southport, Jones joined Manchester United in 1995 at the age of 10. He made eight appearances for the under-17 side in the 2000–01 season, and signed as an apprentice on 2 July 2001, before breaking into the Under-19 side in early 2002. He was made captain of the Under-19s at the start of the 2002–03 season, and went on to make 18 appearances, scoring one goal, as the team progressed to the final of the FA Youth Cup in April 2003, where a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the second leg saw him lift the trophy at Old Trafford.

The following season saw Jones promoted to the reserve team, where he established himself as a regular in the heart of midfield. He was named as a substitute for a League Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion in December 2003, but did not feature in the game. In the 2004–05 season, Manchester United introduced a second reserve team to play in the Pontins' Holiday League, in addition to the existing FA Premier Reserve League North side. Jones was named as captain of the latter and also made regular appearances for the former. Jones experienced a great deal of success with the reserve sides, lifting the FA Premier Reserve League North trophy and then captaining the side to victory over Charlton Athletic Reserves (winners of the FAPRL South) to take the national title. He also featured as the reserves secured the Pontins Holiday League title and the Pontins Holiday League Cup, once again acting as captain as Manchester United were narrowly denied a fifth trophy at the hands of Manchester City Reserves in the final of the Manchester Seniors Cup.

Jones was allocated a squad number, 31, during the 2003–04 season and made his senior debut as a late substitute in a 1–0 home win over Arsenal in the League Cup. He made his full team debut in Manchester United's shock 0–0 home draw with non-league Exeter City in the FA Cup third round. Despite these opportunities Jones found it hard to break into the first team ahead of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes and spent much of the remainder of his Manchester United career either in the reserves or out on loan.

Preston North End

For the 2004–05 season Jones was sent on a season long loan to Football League Championship side Preston North End to gain first-team experience making his debut at Watford on 6 August 2005. Good performances from the bench soon saw him established as first-choice in midfield and he scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 away win at Ipswich Town on 29 August 2005. Jones played a key role in a long unbeaten run which pushed Preston up into the Championship play-off positions, making 24 appearances, including three as substitute, and scoring 3 goals.

NEC Nijmegen

Jones' spell at Preston was followed by joining Eredivisie side NEC Nijmegen on a loan deal until the end 2005–06 season. Wearing number five, he again had to spend time on the substitutes bench to begin with, but impressed sufficiently in brief appearances against Ajax and Sparta Rotterdam to be brought on at half-time against ADO Den Haag on 22 January 2006. Jones scored two goals in a 5–0 win to secure a place in the starting line-up for the next game, where he again scored twice, this time to salvage a draw against Willem II. One of those goals was from the penalty spot. He started every game for the rest of the season in a left centre midfield role in NEC's 4–3–3 formation. During a match against Heracles, he scored a goal from 30 yards. In the match against FC Groningen, he again scored a goal from a free kick, just 25 yards out, receiving the Man of the Match award. In the short time he was with NEC Nijmegen, he got himself placed second on their Man of the Year list, with 134 points, thirty points behind talented striker Romano Denneboom. The team ended 10th in 2006 and Jones returned to England having signed a new three-year deal at Manchester United.

Despite his success in the Netherlands, the arrival of £14 million Michael Carrick from Tottenham meant Jones was restricted to appearances in the League Cup. On 15 November 2006, a bid of £1 million from Derby County was accepted. The deal would see Jones initially move on loan to Pride Park until the January transfer window – the first possible opportunity to make the transfer a permanent one. In moving to Derby, Jones would link up once again with Billy Davies, manager of Preston during his loan spell there.

Derby County

Jones' Derby career started promisingly, with the midfielder establishing himself as first choice in midfield and contributing significantly to Derby's push for promotion, including scoring a stoppage-time free-kick in the 1–0 home win against Sheffield Wednesday. Alex Ferguson once remarked that he had sold Jones too cheaply to Derby. However, as the season drew to a close Derby's form took a dip and Jones found himself moving to the fringes of the first team, only appearing as an 87th-minute substitute in the 1–0 victory over West Bromwich Albion in the Championship Playoff Final which promoted Derby to the Premier League.

Despite Derby struggling on their return to the top flight Jones was unable to force himself into the first team on a regular basis, playing only 15 times in the league. He scored the first top flight goal of his career in Derby's 6–1 defeat at Chelsea on 12 March 2008. Jones was in and out of the side under new manager Paul Jewell, although he did make 12 of his 15 appearances that season under Jewell.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Jones signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Championship on 27 June 2008 in a three-year deal for a reported fee of £1.2 million. He made his Wolves debut on the opening day of the 2008–09 season at Plymouth Argyle and scored his first goal in a 5–1 win over Nottingham Forest on 30 August. He became a regular fixture in the first team squad throughout the season until a suspected injury halted his run in early 2009. He returned to the side during the final stages as the club eventually won promotion to the Premier League as champions, Jones' second promotion in three seasons.

Jones' return to the top flight was initially curtailed by several injury setbacks to a troublesome knee problem that had occurred in the previous season. However, he returned to the central midfield in early 2010 at the expense of Nenad Milijaš and scored his first Premier League goal for Wolves when he finished an 18-pass move to defeat Tottenham Hotspur. His performances during the remainder of the season helped the club to survival and saw Jones be offered a new contract. However, Jones rejected a new contract with Wolves, with only 12 months left to run on his existing deal. Despite rejecting a new contract, Jones will continue to give 100 per cent in the upcoming season. After scoring an opener for Wolves in a 2–1 win over Stoke City on the opening day, Jones is still hoping to sign a new contract with the club. Jones scored the fifth goal in the game in a 5–0 win over Doncaster Rovers putting Wolves through to the next round of the FA Cup. Since February 2011, Jones has not featured since early February under McCarthy.

However, Jones failed to agree the terms of a new contract and he instead exited Wolves at the expiry of his deal in May 2011. Also, Jones has decided to look for another club.

Wigan Athletic

On 2 August 2011, Jones was signed by Wigan Athletic on a free transfer after impressing on trial during the pre-season. On the opening day of the Premier League, Jones was in the substitute in a match against Norwich City but was not used. Throughout the Wigan match, Jones was not used in substitute and yet to debut for Wigan until on 13 September 2011, Jones made his debut in a Wigan shirt as Wigan lost 2–0 to Crystal Palace and made his league debut coming on for Jordi Gomez in the 71st minute of a 3–1 loss to Everton.

Blackburn Rovers

On 2 March 2013, Jones completed an emergency loan move to Blackburn Rovers for the remainder of the season. He made his debut the same day and scored in a 3–2 defeat to Peterborough United. He later thanked Wigan manager Roberto Martínez for allowing him the opportunity to go out on loan.

Burnley

After media speculation that Jones would make his loan deal at Ewood Park permanent, it was a surprise to many when Jones began training with Rovers' bitter East Lancashire rivals, Burnley in July 2013. Jones was included in Sean Dyche's squad that embarked on a pre-season training camp in Cork, which included a friendly against Cork City, in which Jones played. Jones played in Burnley's other pre-season victories against Tranmere Rovers, Carlisle United and Sparta Rotterdam and on 1 August 2013, Jones completed a permanent move to Burnley on a free transfer. Jones scored his first goal for Burnley on 6 August in a 4–0 win at York City along with goals from Junior Stanislas, Danny Ings and a first goal for new arrival Scott Arfield. Jones scored his first league goal for the club on 1 March 2014, during a 2–0 win over Derby County.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 16 August 2016, Jones joined Championship side Sheffield Wednesday for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for Sheffield Wednesday – his first for almost two years – in a 1–1 draw against Sunderland on 16 August 2017.

International career

Jones was called up to the England under-21 squad during the 2003–04 season. Although qualified to play for Wales, Jones opted to play for England at that level and made what was to be his only appearance for the under-21 side in a 2–2 away draw with Sweden on 30 March 2004, coming on as a second-half substitute for Nigel Reo-Coker. He is still eligible to play for the senior teams of either England or Wales.

Career statistics

Honours