Joe Allen

Allen made his league debut for Swansea as a 75th-minute substitute for Andy Robinson in a 6–3 home defeat to Blackpool on 7 May, the final day of the League One season, as Swansea missed out on a play-off position under new manager and former team captain Roberto Martínez.

Joseph Michael Allen (born 14 March 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Swansea City.

As a first-year scholar in the youth team in the 2006–07 season, he featured as an unused first-team substitute in a 3–0 away win over Premier League side Sheffield United in the third round of the FA Cup.

Two weeks later, when Allen was just 16, Swansea manager Kenny Jackett gave him his debut in the FAW Premier Cup away tie to local Welsh Premier League side Port Talbot Town.

He played the first half of the match as Swansea lost 2–1 after extra time.

Allen began his career at Swansea City, making his first-team debut in January 2007 at age 16.

He played in 150 matches across all competitions in six years at the Liberty Stadium, also having a loan at Wrexham.

During his time at Swansea, they won two promotions, going from League One to the Premier League.

Allen made a first start on 14 August 2007 in a 2–0 home win over Walsall in the first round of the League Cup.

He was named man of the match for his performance, which included assisting in the first goal by providing a left-footed chipped cross to Paul Anderson.

On 7 October 2008, Allen joined Conference Premier club Wrexham on a one-month loan and scored a goal from 25 yards on his debut for the North Wales team the same day, in a 3–1 win over York City at the Racecourse Ground.

His loan was curtailed after only one more match, when he damaged ankle ligaments and was sidelined for a month.

Allen returned from the injury in December, entering the Swansea squad at home to Barnsley after regular midfielder Ferrie Bodde had been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to injury.

With Swansea 2–0 down and playing poorly, manager Martínez was prompted to bring Allen on from the substitutes' bench.

The club went on to earn a late 2–2 draw and despite only playing 25 minutes, Allen once more received the man of the match award.

A full international for Wales from 2009 to 2022, Allen earned 74 caps for his nation and represented Wales at the UEFA European Championship in 2016 and 2020, helping the team reach the semi-finals of the former tournament.

He also helped Wales qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, the nation's first appearance at the competition since 1958.

Born in Carmarthen, Allen was raised in the Pembrokeshire town of Narberth, and is a former student of Narberth Primary School and Ysgol y Preseli.

He is a fluent Welsh language speaker.

Allen started his career playing in local team Tenby up to age ten.

Allen was part of the Swansea City youth set-up from age nine.

On 5 April 2009, Allen came on as a 68th-minute substitute for Mark Gower, and 20 minutes later scored his first goal for Swansea in a South Wales derby 2–2 draw away at Cardiff City.

After frequently being injured in the 2009–10 season, Allen returned to regular first-team football at the start of the 2010–11 season.

Two days later, Martínez awarded Allen his first professional contract, to keep him at Swansea until 2010.

Allen started in the next round of the tournament at home to Reading and again received the man of the match award, despite a 1–0 loss.

He made 14 appearances over the campaign, six in the Swans' victorious capture of the League One title.

The following season, Swansea's first in the Championship, Allen struggled to get into the first team due to competition from midfielders Darren Pratley, Ferrie Bodde, Owain Tudur Jones, Jordi Gómez and Leon Britton.

A string of impressive performances prompted manager Brendan Rodgers to play Allen in the South Wales derby in November 2010, with Allen receiving the man of the match award in the 1–0 win.

He played 40 league matches and scored twice over the Championship campaign, and featured for the full 90 minutes as Swansea won promotion with a 4–2 victory over Reading in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

However, he scored an own goal in that match.

A few days prior to the beginning of the 2011–12 Premier League, Allen signed a new four-year contract with Swansea lasting until 2015.

He played 36 out of 38 top-flight fixtures that season, scoring four goals.

On 3 December 2011, he was sent off for two bookings in a 4–2 loss to Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

He also represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics.

In the same year, he joined Liverpool for £15 million, signed by his former Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers.

Allen spent four seasons at Anfield, making 132 appearances.

At the end of the season, he signed a new three-year contract lasting until 2012.

On 10 August 2012, after passing a medical at Melwood, Allen signed a long-term contract with Liverpool in a transfer deal worth £15 million, following Brendan Rodgers' move to Anfield.

In July 2016, he signed for Stoke City for a £13 million transfer fee.

After making over 220 appearances for the Potters, he returned to Swansea in 2022.