LLOYD JONES

Full Name: Lloyd Richard Jones

Born: 07 October 1995

Came from: Luton Town   Went to: Luton Town

First game: 23 February 2019   Last game: 04 May 2019

Appearances: 9 (4/5)   Goals: 1

Born in Plymouth, the central defender returned on loan to the club he joined as a ten-year-old, eight years after he left.

Jones was enticed away from Home Park in 2011, aged 15, to sign for Premier League giants Liverpool for a six-figure fee, a handy sum because the Pilgrims were in Administration at the time.

He impressed at Anfield's academy and signed his first professional contract in 2013. Originally representing Wales at under-17 and under-19 levels, he rejected a call-up for their under-21s and instead switched allegiance to England in late 2013, representing the Three Lions at under-19 and under-20 levels.

The same season that he broke into the England set-up, he became Liverpool's reserve team captain. In 2014-15 he had loan spells at League Two Cheltenham Town (6 games, 0 goals) and Accrington Stanley (11 games, 1 goal) to enhance his development, before he progressed into League One with loans to Blackpool (11 games, 0 goals) and Swindon Town (29 games, 2 goals), where a knee injury temporarily frustrated his progress.

On transfer deadline day in January 2018, Lloyd made a permanent switch from Liverpool to Luton Town for an undisclosed fee. He made a single appearance in Luton's promotion-winning season to League One in 2017-18. With the Hatters then topping the table and flying high, he found chances hard to come by in their League One campaign in 2018-19, making only five appearances.

On the last day of the January transfer window, this time in 2019, Jones returned to Home Park on loan until the end of the 2018-19 season, so ending a 13-year wait to make a senior appearance for his hometown club. He played nine games through to the season's end, and scored in his last appearance, in a 3-2 home win against Scunthorpe United in May 2019. However, due to results elsewhere, that was not enough to prevent from Argyle dropping back to the fourth tier. That final game of the season, with the team selected by Kevin Nancekivell, followed a 5-1 defeat at Accrington Stanley the week before that had cost Derek Adams his job and put Argyle on the brink of relegation.

During the 2019-20 season, he went out on loan in the January 2020 window to Northampton Town for the remainder of the season, which was later cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. He made just seven appearances for the Cobblers.

At the end of that curtailed season, he was released by Luton Town, having made 14 appearances and scored once whilst at the club. His three seasons at Kenilworth Road were all in different divisions, as Luton climbed back from League Two to the Championship.

He then rejoined Northampton permanently for the 2020-21 season in League One, playing a further 27 times without scoring. The following season he moved to newly promoted Cambridge United in League One and spent two seasons at the Abbey Stadium, playing 69 times and scoring four goals, and he was named Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season.

For the 2023-24 campaign he moved to League One rivals Charlton Athletic, where he played 36 times and scored twice in this first season at the Valley. He remained in south-east London ahead of the 2024-25 season, alongside fellow former Pilgrims, Macaulay Ghillesphey and Will Mannion.