Wes McDonald

Wesley Nurettin McDonald (born 4 May 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for EFL League One club Morecambe.

McDonald joined Birmingham City from Fulham as a 16-year-old. He spent a month on loan at National League South club Nuneaton Town in 2016, and a month at Solihull Moors of the National League in 2018, but never appeared for Birmingham's first team, and was released at the end of the 2017–18 season. He spent the first half of the following season with League Two club Yeovil Town, joined another League Two club, Walsall, in July 2019, and moved up a division to Morecambe in 2021.

Club Career

Early life and career

McDonald was born in London, and joined Fulham's academy from Crystal Palace as a 12-year-old. Through an arrangement with the club, he attended Coombe Boys' School in New Malden, Surrey. He was a member of the England under-16 training squad ahead of the 2012 Victory Shield, but a serious knee injury prevented his participation and kept him out until the following summer, when he took up a scholarship with Fulham. Their academy director described him as "a central midfield player who always looks to break the play up and get us moving forward [and who] can chip in with a goal or two as well."

Birmingham City

Later that year, he transferred to Birmingham City where he continued his scholarship. At the time, academy coach Steve Spooner described him as "only small" but "a really powerful boy who has an eye for goal [and] likes to take people on". In late 2014, McDonald suffered a knee ligament injury that restricted his progress, despite which he was given his first professional contract, of two years, in May 2015. He was by then playing in a more advanced role: according to Spooner, he could "play on either flank or off the top. He has good levels of skill, he's very powerful and possesses a great engine. He has pace and scores goals as well."

In his first senior se