Tom Lawrence

This article is about the footballer. For Thomas Edward "T. E." Lawrence a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia, see T. E. Lawrence.

Tom Lawrence

Lawrence playing for Cardiff City in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Thomas Morris Lawrence
Date of birth	(1994-01-13) 13 January 1994
Place of birth	Wrexham, Wales
Height
Position(s)	Forward Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	Leicester City
Number	16
Youth career
	Everton
2002–2013	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2013–2014	Manchester United	1	(0)
2013–2014	→ Carlisle United (loan)	10	(3)
2014	→ Yeovil Town (loan)	19	(2)
2014–	Leicester City	3	(0)
2014	→ Rotherham United (loan)	6	(1)
2015–2016	→ Blackburn Rovers (loan)	21	(2)
2016	→ Cardiff City (loan)	14	(0)
International career‡
2010–2013	Wales U17	4	(0)
2012–2013	Wales U19	5	(0)
2013–	Wales U21	8	(3)
2015–	Wales	4	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:42, 9 May 2016 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:00, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Thomas Morris "Tom" Lawrence (born 13 January 1994) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a forward for Leicester City. Born in Wrexham, he joined Manchester United at the age of eight and made his way up through the age groups, but he was unable to make it as a first-team regular and spent time on loan at Carlisle United and Yeovil Town before joining Leicester in September 2014. He has also represented Wales at senior international level, having also played for the national under-17, under-19 and under-21 sides.

Club career

Manchester United

Born in Wrexham, Lawrence grew up in Penyffordd, Flintshire, and joined Manchester United from Everton at the age of eight. Tosh Farrell, an Everton coach at the time later commented that Lawrence was a "big Man U fan so we had no chance [of keeping him] when they wanted him!" After progressing up through the age grades, he made his first appearance for the under-18s at the age of 15 in a friendly against Maltese side Hibernians in October 2009, coming on as a substitute to score the third goal in a 3–1 win. In July 2010, he appeared for the under-17s in the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland, scoring against County Down in the quarter-finals of the Slemish Trophy repechage competition. Off the back of that, he became a regular fixture in the under-18s team for the 2010–11 season, scoring five goals in 22 appearances in the Premier Academy League, as well as making three substitute appearances in the club's successful FA Youth Cup run. Towards the end of the season, he also got his first experience of the reserve team, being named as an unused substitute for the final game of the Premier Reserve League season, a 2–2 draw with Liverpool.

Another appearance at the Milk Cup followed in 2011, with Lawrence scoring the only goal in Manchester United's semi-final victory over Senegalese side Étoile Lusitana; however, the team went on to lose the final 5–1 to Qatari youth academy ASPIRE. Lawrence began the 2011–12 season in good form, scoring four goals in his first four matches before suffering an injury in the fifth, a 3–1 home defeat to Manchester City. On his return two months later, he scored the opener in Manchester United's 4–0 FA Youth Cup win over Torquay United, only to suffer another injury to his groin and miss another five months of the season. Nevertheless, he returned strongly, scoring three goals in the final three games of the season, including a brace against Stoke City on the final day. After going unused in a Manchester Senior Cup game against Bury earlier in the season, Lawrence finally made his first appearance for the reserves in the final of the Lancashire Senior Cup against Accrington Stanley; after coming on as a 23rd-minute substitute for Luke Giverin, Lawrence opened the scoring shortly before half-time and Manchester United went on to win 4–0.

After signing his first professional contract in July 2012, Lawrence made the step up to the reserves on a permanent basis for the 2012–13 season; however, he found the transition difficult, as competing with the likes of Federico Macheda, Ángelo Henríquez and Joshua King meant he often found himself on the bench, rarely making it onto the pitch with any significant time left in games. Despite a lack of playing time, Lawrence managed to score four goals in 20 appearances during the season, including one goal in a 3–1 win against Oldham Athletic in the Manchester Senior Cup, and his assist led to Larnell Cole's 88th-minute winning goal against Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the Under-21 Premier League. Will Keane's return to fitness meant Lawrence's opportunities continued to be limited going into the 2013–14 season, although he did manage to appear in seven of the team's first eight matches of the season.

Carlisle United loan

On 28 November 2013, Lawrence joined fellow Manchester United player Ben Amos at League One club Carlisle United on a month-long loan, due to last until 4 January 2014. Lawrence made his debut the following weekend, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for Paul Thirlwell in a 3–1 defeat away to Swindon Town.

Yeovil Town loan

On 31 January 2014, Lawrence joined Football League Championship side Yeovil Town on a three-month loan. He made 17 starts and two substitute appearances for Yeovil, scoring twice, as the club were relegated to League One. On 30 April, he was recalled by Manchester United.

Return to Manchester United

On 6 May 2014, Lawrence was given his United debut by interim player-manager Ryan Giggs, starting in a 3–1 home Premier League win against Hull City. He was substituted in the 70th minute for Giggs himself. James Wilson made his debut in the same match.

Leicester City

Lawrence was sold to recently promoted Leicester City on 2 September 2014 for an undisclosed fee, signing a four-year contract.

Before making an appearance for Leicester, he was loaned to Championship club Rotherham United on 27 November, on a month-long deal. He scored one goal in six appearances for Rotherham before returning to Leicester. He made his Leicester debut on 3 January 2015 in an FA Cup third round tie against Newcastle United, which Leicester won 1–0.

Blackburn Rovers (loan)

On 21 August 2015, Lawrence joined Championship side Blackburn Rovers on loan until 3 January 2016.

On 5 January, his loan deal was extended until 31 January. He returned to Leicester when loan came to an end on 31 January 2016.

Cardiff City (loan)

On 1 February 2016, Lawrence joined Championship side Cardiff City on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season.

International career

Lawrence's first experience of representative football came in 2003–04, when he played for the Flintshire Schools team while still a year young, and again in 2004–05. Both years, the team won the Tom Yeoman Shield North league titles, and in 2005, they were beaten to the national title by Swansea Schools. That year, Lawrence was named as the Flintshire Schools FA's joint player of the year, along with George Baxter of Mynydd Isa CP.

After progressing through the Wales under-17 and under-19 teams, Lawrence made his debut for the under-21s in a 3–0 home friendly victory over Iceland in February 2013, playing for 64 minutes before being substituted. He scored his first goal for the under-21s a month later, scoring the only goal in a European Championship qualifying win over Moldova at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli. This was followed up by a brace of penalties in another qualifying win in October 2013, this time against Lithuania.

22 May 2014, Lawrence was named in the Wales senior squad for the friendly match against the Netherlands on 4 June 2014. Lawrence was named in the Wales squad for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches against Cyprus and Israel to be played on 3 and 6 September 2015. On 13 October, he came on as a substitute for David Edwards in Wales' final Euro 2016 qualifier against Andorra.

External links

• Tom Lawrence career statistics at Soccerbase
• Profile at ManUtd.com
• Profile at faw.org.uk