1. Overview
Jerome Terence Sinclair (born 20 September 1996) is an English and Jamaican former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented England up to under-17 level.
Sinclair began his youth career at West Bromwich Albion before joining Liverpool. He made his senior debut for Liverpool at the age of 16 years and 6 days in 2012, becoming the club's youngest ever player. After making four further appearances for Liverpool and a brief loan spell at Wigan Athletic, he signed for Watford in July 2016 for a fee of 4.00 M GBP. During his time at Watford, he undertook several loan spells to gain experience, playing for Birmingham City, Sunderland, Oxford United, Dutch club VVV-Venlo, and Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia. He left Watford at the end of the 2020-21 season when his contract expired. Following his departure from professional football, Sinclair transitioned into business, notably becoming an owner of a branch of the fried chicken chain Morley's.
2. Early life and education
Jerome Sinclair was born on 20 September 1996, at Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham, England, and was raised in the Quinton district of the city. He began playing organized football at the age of seven with Phoenix United, a program that aimed to use sports to engage young people and promote positive values. While playing for Phoenix United, he was scouted by West Bromwich Albion and joined their academy as a schoolboy when he was eight years old. Growing up, Sinclair was a supporter of Arsenal and admired former French international Thierry Henry. He stands at 71 in (181 cm) tall.
When Sinclair moved to Liverpool's youth academy, his father relocated to Liverpool with him, while his mother, sister, and four brothers remained at their family home in Birmingham. During his time at West Brom, he had attended Sandwell Academy. In line with Liverpool's academy policy, he continued his education at Rainhill High School in St Helens. He achieved good grades in his GCSEs and subsequently pursued an A level in business studies.
3. Club career
Jerome Sinclair's professional football career began at Liverpool, where he progressed through their youth ranks to make a historic first-team debut. He later moved to Watford, where he experienced multiple loan spells across various clubs in England and Europe to gain more playing time.
3.1. Liverpool
Liverpool signed Sinclair as a 14-year-old from the West Bromwich Albion youth academy in the summer of 2011. The coaching staff at Liverpool reportedly compared his potential to that of Raheem Sterling. He spent the majority of the 2011-12 season with the Under-16s team before coach Mike Marsh gave him an opportunity to play four games with the Under-18s towards the end of the season. Although he impressed in these matches, he did not score.
On 14 July 2012, Sinclair notably scored a hat-trick for the Under-18s against Exeter City in a pre-season friendly after coming on as a substitute. In total, he netted eight goals in six Under-18s pre-season friendly games leading up to the 2012-13 Academy Under-18s season. His first competitive goal for the Under-18s came on 25 August 2012, when he scored a brace in a 3-3 draw against Crystal Palace.
While still only 15 years old, Sinclair was called up to Rodolfo Borrell's NextGen Series squad for an away match against defending champions Inter Milan in September 2012. This call-up occurred after first-team manager Brendan Rodgers had included several young players in his Europa League squad. Sinclair started the match and performed well, earning a penalty that Krisztián Adorján converted, and also had several close attempts at goal himself.
Rodgers subsequently called Sinclair up to the first team for the League Cup third-round tie away to his boyhood club, West Bromwich Albion, on 26 September. At the age of 16 years and 6 days, he entered the match as a substitute in the 81st minute, replacing Samed Yeşil in a 2-1 victory at The Hawthorns. This appearance established a new record, making him Liverpool's youngest ever player, surpassing Jack Robinson's previous record. For the remainder of the 2012-13 season, Sinclair continued to play for Liverpool's U18s. However, his 2013-14 season was hampered by injury.
By early March 2015, Sinclair had scored 22 goals across various Liverpool youth teams, including 6 goals in 7 UEFA Youth League games. Notable goals included an impressive finish against Manchester United U21, beating Víctor Valdés at his near post, and a solo effort against Chelsea U21. He was among several young players who traveled with the first team for a Europa League tie against Beşiktaş in February 2015, although he was not included in the matchday squad for the game, which Liverpool lost on penalties.
On 16 March 2015, Sinclair was loaned to Championship side Wigan Athletic, where he joined academy teammate Sheyi Ojo. The following day, he made his Football League debut, which proved to be his only appearance for Wigan. He came on as a substitute for Marc-Antoine Fortuné in the final eight minutes of a 2-0 loss to Watford at the DW Stadium.
Upon returning to Liverpool, Sinclair made his Premier League debut on 10 May 2015, entering as a 68th-minute substitute for Rickie Lambert in a 1-1 draw away to champions Chelsea. On his first appearance of the 2015-16 season, away to Exeter City in the FA Cup on 8 January 2016, Sinclair scored his first senior goal for Liverpool in a 2-2 draw. Ten days later, he confirmed his intention to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, indicating a desire to play in Spain. In April, AFC Bournemouth made an offer of 4.00 M GBP plus add-ons, which Liverpool accepted, but Sinclair rejected the transfer.
3.2. Watford
In the January 2016 transfer window, Liverpool had rejected an offer of 1.50 M GBP for Sinclair from Premier League club Watford. On 21 May 2016, Sinclair agreed to join Watford upon the expiration of his contract with Liverpool. As he was under 24 years old, Liverpool was entitled to a developmental fee; the clubs eventually agreed on a fee of 4.00 M GBP, and Sinclair signed a five-year contract with Watford.
He did not make his debut for Watford until 3 December 2016, coming on as a 94th-minute substitute in a defeat by West Bromwich Albion. His first start came a few days later against Manchester City; in a match where City secured their first home win since mid-September, a BBC Sport reporter described Sinclair as "a peripheral figure." In late December, a loan offer from Championship club Brentford was rejected by Watford manager Walter Mazzarri, who felt Sinclair was needed as cover. Sinclair scored his first goal for Watford on 7 January 2017, in an FA Cup third-round tie against Burton Albion, which Watford won 2-0. Towards the end of the transfer window, Mazzarri stated that Sinclair needed to gain experience and was free to go out on loan if he wished.
3.3. Loan spells
To gain more first-team experience, Jerome Sinclair embarked on a series of loan spells after joining Watford, playing for clubs in the English Championship and League One, as well as in the Dutch Eredivisie and the Bulgarian First Professional Football League.
3.3.1. Birmingham City
On 31 January 2017, Sinclair moved to Championship club Birmingham City on loan until the end of the season. He immediately started their next match at home against Fulham, partnering Lukas Jutkiewicz in attack. He was substituted after 67 minutes in the goalless match, which Birmingham eventually won 1-0. Sinclair appeared regularly throughout February, but the last of his five appearances for the club came as a very late substitute in a home defeat against Leeds United on 3 March.
3.3.2. Sunderland
Having played just 27 minutes of Premier League football for his parent club during the 2017-18 season, Sinclair joined Sunderland, who had recently been relegated to League One, on loan for the 2018-19 season. However, his loan spell was cut short by mutual agreement in January 2019.
3.3.3. Oxford United
On transfer deadline day in January 2019, Oxford United announced that they had signed Sinclair on loan until the end of the 2018-19 season. His first goals for Oxford United came on 2 March 2019, when he scored both goals in a 2-1 home victory over Scunthorpe United.
3.3.4. VVV-Venlo
For the 2019-20 season, Sinclair signed on loan for Dutch club VVV-Venlo, competing in the Eredivisie.
3.3.5. CSKA Sofia
On 5 October 2020, Sinclair moved to CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria on a one-year loan deal. He played for the club during the 2020-21 season.
4. International career
Jerome Sinclair has represented England at both the under-16 and under-17 levels. He made his under-16 debut on 27 October 2011, and marked the occasion by scoring as England defeated Wales 4-0 in the 2011 Victory Shield. He also scored two goals in the 2012 Montaigu Tournament, contributing to England's victories against host nation France and Morocco.
His first goal for the under-17 team came on 31 August 2012, when he opened the scoring in a 4-1 win against Turkey. He participated in two matches during the 2013 European U17 Championship qualifying round held in Estonia. Although he was selected for the elite round of qualifying, he had to withdraw from the squad due to injury.
5. Post-playing career
After his contract with Watford expired at the end of the 2020-21 season, Jerome Sinclair spent a year without a club. During the 2022-23 pre-season, he rejoined Oxford United on a trial basis, making his first appearance in over a year in a friendly match against Banbury United. However, he did not secure a contract with the club. By January 2023, it became apparent that Sinclair had stepped away from professional football to focus on other business interests. Notably, he is reported to be involved in the ownership of a branch of Morley's, a popular fried chicken chain in Birmingham.
6. Career statistics
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Liverpool | 2012-13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2013-14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2014-15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2015-16 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Total | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| Wigan Athletic (loan) | 2014-15 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | |||
| Watford | 2016-17 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | 7 | 1 | |
| 2017-18 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 5 | 0 | ||
| 2020-21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 9 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | 14 | 1 | ||
| Birmingham City (loan) | 2016-17 | 5 | 0 | - | - | - | 5 | 0 | |||
| Sunderland (loan) | 2018-19 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 2 |
| Oxford United (loan) | 2018-19 | 16 | 4 | - | - | - | 16 | 4 | |||
| VVV-Venlo (loan) | 2019-20 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 24 | 0 | ||
| CSKA Sofia (loan) | 2020-21 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 2 | - | 4 | 0 | 27 | 3 | |
| Career total | 87 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 111 | 11 | |
7. Honours
CSKA Sofia
- Bulgarian Cup: 2020-21