Jake Alexander Hesketh (born 27 March 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for National League club Eastleigh.
Personal information | |||
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Full name | Jake Alexander Hesketh[1] | ||
Date of birth | (1996-03-27) 27 March 1996 (age 26)[2] | ||
Place of birth | Stockport, England | ||
Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Attacking midfielder | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Eastleigh | ||
Number | 10 | ||
Youth career | |||
2006–2014 | Southampton | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2014–2021 | Southampton | 2 | (1) |
2018–2019 | → Burton Albion (loan) | 16 | (1) |
2019 | → Milton Keynes Dons (loan) | 16 | (2) |
2019–2020 | → Lincoln City (loan) | 20 | (1) |
2020–2021 | → Crawley Town (loan) | 15 | (0) |
2021– | Eastleigh | 16 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:52, 11 February 2022 (UTC) |
Hesketh was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, but his family moved to Whiteley, near Fareham, Hampshire when he was six months old.[3] He studied at Whiteley Primary School before moving onto Swanmore College.[4]
Hesketh started his career at Southampton's academy, first training with the club as an under-7 before signing with the club as an under-nine, the youngest at which he could sign, having previously been scouted at a local tournament playing for Crofton Saints Football Club.[4][5] After progressing through the club's academy, he completed a two-year scholarship with the club and after finishing as the Under-18 team's top scorer was awarded the 2013–14 Scholar of the Season accolade at the Southampton club awards ceremony.[6] He signed a three-year professional contract the same day, having spent the previous six weeks training and playing with the club's under-21 team.[7][5]
He was promoted into the first team by coach Ronald Koeman due to injury problems among the squad.[8] He made his debut for the club on 8 December 2014 in a Premier League match against Manchester United, being brought in as a substitute for Dušan Tadić in the 70th minute of the 2–1 home defeat.[9] Five days later Hesketh made his first Premier League start as Southampton lost 1–0 away to Burnley.[10] Hesketh made 22 appearances for Martin Hunter's Under-21s in 2014–15, scoring two goals and lifting the 2015 U21 Premier League Cup.[11] He failed to make a first team appearance during the 2015–16 season as he was not part of Koeman's first-team plans, but returned to the first-team following the arrival of Claude Puel as manager in summer 2016.[5] After an appearance for the Southampton under-23 team in the EFL Trophy in August 2016, he made his first first-team appearance of the season and scored his first senior goal on 22 September 2016, in a 2–0 win over Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup.[12][13][14] Hesketh played again in a 0–0 UEFA Europa League draw away to Hapoel Beer Sheva a week later,[12] but picked up an injury in October and failed to make any more appearances that season.[5][12][15] In December 2016, he signed a new four-and-a-half year contract with the club.[15] Puel was sacked as manager in summer 2017, with Southampton being managed by Mauricio Pellegrino and later Mark Hughes, and Hesketh failed to make a first-team appearance during the 2017–18 season.[5][16]
On 30 August 2018, Hesketh signed for Burton Albion on a loan deal until 2 January 2019.[17][18] He scored his first league goal in a 2–2 draw at Portsmouth on 23 October 2018.[5][19] He appeared 23 times for Burton, scoring three goals.[20] On 31 January 2019, Hesketh joined League Two club Milton Keynes Dons on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season.[21] He made his debut for the club as a substitute in a 3–1 defeat to Exeter City on 2 February 2019, before scoring his first goal for the club on 9 February in a 3–2 defeat to Swindon Town.[20][22] He amassed 16 appearances in total across his loan spell, and scored twice.[20]
On 2 September 2019, he joined League One club Lincoln City on loan for the remainder of the 2019–20 season.[23] He appeared in 24 matches and scored one goal across the 2019–20 season.[24]
He joined League Two club Crawley Town on a season-long loan on 16 October 2020.[25] He made his debut for the club on 20 October 2020 as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Exeter City in League Two.[26] On 31 October 2020, Hesketh was given a red card in Crawley’s 2–1 win over Cambridge United.[27]
After 17 years at Southampton, Hesketh announced that he would leave the club at the end of the 2020–21 season after the expiry of his contract.[28]
Following his release by Southampton in June 2021,[29] Hesketh signed for Eastleigh on 2 August.[30]
Hesketh's preferred position is as an attacking midfielder, but is also able to play as a central midfielder or as a wide midfielder.[5]
Season | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Southampton | 2014–15[31] | Premier League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | |
2015–16[32] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
2016–17[12] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
2017–18[16] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
2018–19[20] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
2019–20[24] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
2020–21[33] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | ||
Southampton U23 | 2016–17[12] | — | — | — | 2[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||
2017–18[16] | — | — | — | 1[lower-alpha 2] | 2 | 1 | 2 | |||||
2020–21[33] | — | — | — | 2[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||||
Total | — | — | — | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |||||
Burton Albion (loan) | 2018–19[20] | League One | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 23 | 3 |
Milton Keynes Dons (loan) | 2018–19[20] | League Two | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
Lincoln City (loan) | 2019–20[24] | League One | 20 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 24 | 1 |
Crawley Town (loan) | 2020–21[33] | League Two | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
Eastleigh | 2021–22[34] | National League | 16 | 0 | 3 | 1 | — | 1[lower-alpha 3] | 3 | 19 | 4 | |
Career total | 85 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 107 | 13 |
Southampton
Milton Keynes Dons
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Eastleigh F.C. – current squad | |
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