Worcestershire is certainly not the greatest breeding ground for top footballing talent, however, there are many players from the region set to play huge roles for massive clubs in the upcoming season.
Several Worcestershire natives frequently line out for teams high up the English league pyramid in both the men’s and women’s side of the game. Who are the most reputable footballers from the county, and what are their team’s aspirations ahead of the 2023/24 season?
Alex Palmer
Alex Palmer is set to be West Bromwich Albion’s number-one goalkeeper as they look to work towards promotion this season.
The former international in the England development squad hails from Kidderminster and is certainly the greatest shot-stopper to emerge from Worcestershire in a long time.
🧤 @alex_palmer01 🧤 pic.twitter.com/691HvQSA45
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) June 30, 2023
Palmer played in 23 games in the Championship last season and kept 10 clean sheets. He is set to be crucial for West Brom again this year if they are to have a chance of earning promotion to the Premier League. In the English Championship betting, the Baggies are offered at 5/1 to secure Premier League football for 2024/25.
West Brom’s defence is not particularly strong, and so the presence of a fine goalkeeper with stunning reflexes more than compensates for their frailties.
Palmer has even attracted the interest of Premier League newcomers Luton Town. If West Brom can resist any potential offers for their star man between the sticks, then it could be an excellent investment, that perhaps even yields a mighty reward of top-flight football in a year’s time.
The reliable goalkeeper is arguably Worcestershire’s standout amongst the small crop of active professional players.
Melissa Lawley
Melissa Lawley is a well-established player in the women’s side of the game, that like Palmer also comes from Kidderminster in Worcestershire.
She has enjoyed a long and successful career in which she has been capped 12 times for England and won multiple major honours. Lawley won the FA Women’s Cup with Manchester City in 2016/17 and was famously part of the Liverpool team that won the FA Women’s Championship in 2021/22.
Lawley’s Liverpool side has settled back into Women’s Super League status extremely well. They comfortably avoided relegation in their first season back in the top flight.
The Reds' @MelissaLawley_ has made more successful dribbles and more drives into the box than any other player in the #BarclaysWSL this season 🤩
How important will she be for @LiverpoolFCW on Sunday? pic.twitter.com/Rc0c2mVBPo
— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) January 13, 2023
Lawley was a mainstay on the right flank for Liverpool for more than half the season before she picked up an injury that cut her campaign short.
She is one of the most experienced players in the squad. Her ability to keep fit next season will be a key aspiration of hers, and it will have a huge impact on Liverpool’s results in the 2023/24 WSL.
Lawley is one of the deadliest wide players that has risen into the professional ranks after growing up in Worcestershire. But she does have a certain pacey competitor from the men’s game.
Joe Lolley
Joe Lolley is certainly the leading player from Worcestershire in terms of the distance football has taken him. The former Nottingham Forest star now plays for Sydney FC in Australia.
Lolley helped Forest to win promotion last year, but now he could perhaps become the first player from Worcestershire to win major honours down under.
Worcestershire has birthed players that are having an impact all over the globe, in the men’s and women’s games. The county may not have produced the most glamorous stars, but here we have outlined three well-known players in English football, that came from the rather rural county.
Article written by Chris M.
