Adam Clayton (footballer)


Adam Stephen Clayton is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.
His professional career started at Manchester City. While a City player, he enjoyed loan spells at Carlisle United and Leeds United, the two clubs being further down the league ladder, subsequently joining Leeds on a permanent basis in 2010. Clayton then had further loan spells at both Peterborough United and Milton Keynes Dons prior signing for Huddersfield Town in 2012.
Clayton's career kicked off when he signed for Middlesbrough in 2014. Whilst at the club, he won promotion to the Premier League, as well as suffering relegation from the division, and formed an infamous partnership with Grant Leadbitter in midfield. He enjoyed six seasons at Middlesbrough, experiencing both success and unfortunate events, before leaving the club in 2020.
He represented the England under-20 national team at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Club career

Manchester City

Born in Manchester, Clayton joined Manchester City at the age of seven years. In May 2007, he signed his first professional contract with Manchester City. Shortly after signing a new contract, Clayton was given the number 31 shirt for the season.
He made the subs bench against West Bromwich Albion and then in an FA Cup tie against Nottingham Forest. On 5 May 2009 he signed a two-year contract extension.
Clayton joined League One club Carlisle United on loan after seeking the advice of his teammate Craig Bellamy, until January 2010, on 2 November 2009. He made his professional debut in a 2–2 draw with Morecambe in the FA Cup on 7 November 2009, coming on as a second-half substitute for Tom Taiwo. On 10 November, Clayton scored his first professional goal in Carlisle's 3–1 away win against Chesterfield in the Football League Trophy. His first league game came on 14 November in a 3–2 loss to Bristol Rovers.
On 2 January 2010, Clayton was influential in Carlisle's equaliser on his debut in an FA Cup defeat to Everton. On 18 January 2010, Carlisle re-signed Clayton on loan until the end of the season. He scored the first goal against Leeds United on 9 February 2010 in the Football League Trophy second leg. He was part of the Carlisle side that reached the JPT final, he played in the final against Southampton, but ended up on the losing side as Carlisle lost 4–1.

Leeds United

He joined Leeds United on a month's loan, on 6 August 2010. Clayton made his Leeds debut as a substitute in the 76th minute of a home game against Derby County on 7 August 2010 which ended in a 2–1 defeat. Manchester City refused permission for Clayton to become cup-tied for Leeds. He came on as a late substitute against Nottingham Forest. On 31 August 2010, Clayton signed for Leeds permanently for an undisclosed fee from Manchester City. On 21 September, he played for the Leeds reserve squad and scored his first goal in a Leeds shirt against Middlesbrough, however Clayton also received a straight red card in the match for handball. After returning from injury, he made second-half substitute appearances against Preston North End and Cardiff City.
On 19 November 2010, Clayton joined Peterborough United on a month's loan to gain some more match experience. He made his debut as a second-half substitute against Southampton. After impressing on loan, his loan spell was extended by a further month until 30 January 2011. On 30 December, Leeds revealed they had a recall clause inserted in the terms of Clayton's loan deal. Leeds gave permission for Clayton to play against Premiership side Fulham. He started the game as Peterborough were easily beaten. On 25 January, Clayton returned to Leeds from his loan spell at Peterborough United.
He joined Milton Keynes Dons on loan on 24 March until the end of the season, in order to get some more first team games under his belt. Clayton scored his first goal for MK Dons against his former club Carlisle United. In May 2011, he played for MK Dons in the League One Play-off semi-finals where MK Dons were knocked out of the competition 4–3 on aggregate by Peterborough United. However, despite MK Dons losing out, Clayton impressed for them over the two legged play-off. After his loan spell ended he was heavily praised by MK Dons manager Karl Robinson who revealed he felt Clayton was one of the leading players in League One and that he would like to re-sign him if the opportunity was to arise again.
With first choice midfielders Neil Kilkenny and Bradley Johnson having both left Leeds United in the 2011–12 pre-season, Clayton proclaimed that he was wanting to stake a claim to play in the first team alongside Jonny Howson for the upcoming season. He started the pre-season as a Leeds' first choice midfielder, being paired alongside Jonny Howson and Michael Brown mostly in a five-man midfield.
On the opening day of the season, Clayton made his first start for Leeds as they lost 3–1 against Southampton, he won the penalty for Leeds which was converted by Max Gradel. He won the man of the match award for Leeds in their 3–2 victory against Bradford City, he assisted Leeds' first goal for teammate Ramón Núñez. In Leeds' 1–0 loss against Middlesbrough Clayton almost scored his first goal for the club with a long range shot from the halfway line which was tipped over the bar by Middlesbrough goalkeeper Carl Ikeme. He then started his fourth game of the season against Hull City where he received another man of the match award. Clayton received praise from manager, Simon Grayson who was very impressed with his performances at Leeds. He scored his first ever goal for Leeds with a late equaliser against West Ham United on 21 August in a 2–2 draw, Clayton also received the man of the match award for the second consecutive game.
He missed Leeds' game against Crystal Palace on 10 September with a calf injury. Clayton returned to the Leeds starting lineup in the following game against Bristol City, where he scored the opening goal of the game for Leeds. Clayton put in a strong performance against rivals Manchester United despite Leeds losing 3–0. He attracted the interest of several Premiership clubs, but said he was hoping to stay at Leeds for a 'very long time'. Clayton scored his third goal of the season against his former club Peterborough United on 22 October. He received the man of the match award in the game against Cardiff City on 30 October. Clayton scored his 4th goal of the season on 6 November which proved to be the match winner against Leicester City in a 1–0 win. His 5th goal of the season came on 29 November in Leeds' 4–0 win against Nottingham Forest. In April 2012, Clayton received a 2 match ban for accumulating 10 yellow cards over the course of the season.
After his first season in the team, Leeds entered negotiations with the player about extending his current deal. Clayton revealed that he was hoping to sign a new deal at Leeds and reiterated his desire to stay at the club beyond his current deal. After the club failed to meet the wage demands of the player during contract negotiations Clayton was transfer listed by Neil Warnock at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Huddersfield Town

On 6 July 2012, he joined newly promoted Huddersfield Town for a fee of £350,000 fee, where former Leeds United manager Simon Grayson was the manager, becoming his fourth signing of the 2012–13 season. Clayton was given the number 8 shirt by manager Simon Grayson on 12 July 2012 formerly worn by teammate Anthony Kay. He made his Huddersfield début in the League Cup first round 2–0 away defeat to Preston North End on 13 August 2012, playing the full 90 minutes of the game. Clayton made his league début in a 1–0 defeat by Cardiff City at the Cardiff City Stadium on 17 August. He scored his first goal for Huddersfield with the opening goal in the side's 2–2 league draw away to Ipswich Town on 1 September 2012. Clayton scored his second Huddersfield goal with a penalty in a 3–1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on 19 September 2012. During January 2014, Huddersfield rejected a £1million transfer bid from Brighton & Hove Albion to sign Clayton. He ended the 2013–14 season by winning the Club's Player of the Year award after making 42 league appearances, scoring 7 goals.

Middlesbrough

On 13 August 2014, Clayton signed a four-year deal with Middlesbrough after a long transfer process for an undisclosed fee believed to be £1.5 million plus add-ons. He was handed the number 8 shirt, previously worn by Jacob Butterfield who signed for Huddersfield in the swap deal.
Adam Clayton became an integral player in the Middlesbrough midfield under manager Aitor Karanka, forming a formidable partnership alongside club captain Grant Leadbitter.
On 7 May 2016, Clayton won promotion to the Premier League with Middlesbrough after a 1–1 draw at home against Brighton & Hove Albion.
With the arrival of Marten de Roon in the summer of 2016, it was reported that Clayton and Leadbitter could leave Middlesbrough, though they both stayed, as Karanka promised the midfield duo game time in the Premier League. Despite their efforts, the club were immediately relegated back down to the Championship for the 2017–18 season.
Garry Monk replaced Karanka as manager for the forthcoming Championship season, and brought in two new central midfielders Lewis Baker and Jonny Howson, though Clayton continued to play regular first team football. However, the club failed to meet their league expectations, with them placed just below the play-off positions, Monk was sacked, to be replaced by Tony Pulis shortly afterwards.
When Karanka returned to management with a poor-performing Nottingham Forest side, it was reported that Karanka was looking to sign his former Middlesbrough stars, including Clayton, Leadbitter and Patrick Bamford. However, they all pledged their loyalty and commitment to Middlesbrough and stayed at the Riverside, though fellow Middlesbrough midfielder Adlène Guedioura left to return to Forest, one of his former clubs.
Having failed to agree to a new contract, Clayton confirmed his departure through social media, with the club also reporting the news the following day: new manager Neil Warnock had informed him that he was not needed at the club and he departed on holiday on the same day as the final game of the Championship season.

International career

Clayton made his debut for the England under-20 team in a victory over Italy under-20s early in 2009.
He was called up for the England U20 squad in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Clayton was given the number four shirt for the tournament.

Career statistics

Honours

Carlisle United
Middlesbrough
Individual