NIALL ENNIS

Full Name: Niall Nathan Michael Ennis

Born: 20 May 1999

Came from: Wolverhampton Wanderers   Went to: Blackburn Rovers

First game: 19 January 2021   Last game: 07 May 2023

Appearances: 97 (53/44)   Goals: 24

Born in Wolverhampton, Ennis joined his hometown club at the age of eight. The pacey striker impressed as he progressed through the youth ranks and was a given a professional contract in November 2015, effective the following summer after his 17th birthday, following reports of keen interest from top-flight giants Manchester United and Chelsea.

In January 2016 Ennis broke a fibula. After many frustrating months, he recovered for the 2016-17 season, only to suffer another fibula fracture ten months after the first, when thought to be close to first-team selection. After surgery, Ennis recovered once more and joined League One side Shrewsbury Town on a season-long loan in July 2017, but a knee injury restricted him to just two appearances and he returned to Molineux that January.

Ennis, capped for England at under-17, 18 and 19 levels, made his Wolves first-team debut in February 2019, coming off the bench in an FA Cup fourth-round victory over his former loan side at Molineux. He signed another three-year deal in the summer of 2019 and toured China with the first-team during Wolves' pre-season, making an appearance off the bench in a 4-0 Premier League Asia Trophy win over Newcastle United.

Whilst Wolves were in China, Ryan Lowe was reported to be interested in bringing Ennis to Home Park on loan for the 2019-20 season. However, after his return to England, Ennis joined League One Doncaster Rovers for the forthcoming campaign, where he made 32 appearances and scored six times, his first senior goal coming in spectacular fashion from 25 yards.

Ennis spent the first half of the 2020-21 season on-loan at Argyle’s League One rivals Burton Albion, making 10 appearances without scoring. It was then that Lowe got his man; the 21-year-old was recalled by Wolves so he could sign for the Pilgrims in the January 2021 transfer window on a two-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

Scoring his first goal for Argyle in February 2021 in a 1-0 win against Accrington Stanley, he was praised by manager Ryan Lowe in March for his impact since joining. He finished the season with six goals in 24 appearances as the club consolidated, finishing 17th, six points above the relegation zone, after the previous campaign's points-per-game promotion in the COVID-curtailed season.

An injury to a hamstring in the warm-up ahead of the opening match of the 2021-22 season ruled him out for four months. He returned in December and went on to score four goals in 28 games as Argyle missed out on a play-off spot after an awful last day 5-0 drubbing at home to MK Dons, in a season that started with Ryan Lowe and finished with Steven Schumacher in charge.

The 2022-23 season proved to be a very successful season as Argyle romped to the League One title with 101 points, with Ennis scoring 14 goals in 45 matches. By now a fans' favourite, he scored with a scissor-kick in a 2-0 Tuesday night home win against Bristol Rovers in April 2023, which put the club one win from promotion, and in the following match, at the weekend, he went one better. His winner against his former club, Burton Albion, at a bouncing Home Park guaranteed Argyle a Championship place for the first time since 2010, with a game to spare.

Ennis finished the season with a Football League Trophy runners-up medal after a dismal defeat against Bolton at Wembley in April, but with a League One winners medal after the club clinched the title on the final day of the season, with a 3-1 win at Port Vale in front of a delirious Green Army.

Once the promotion celebrations had subsided, it was announced, to the disappointment of many, that Ennis had declined the club's offer of a new contract, and shortly after, he agreed a lucrative four-year deal with Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers. However, whilst he scored in the EFL Cup on his debut in August 2023, he was hampered by injuries and struggled to make any real impact at Ewood Park in the first half of the 2023-24 season. After that single goal in 12 appearances, he left Lancashire on the last day of the winter 2024 transfer window, to join Championship rivals Stoke City, linking up again with Steven Schumacher.

He went on to make 14 appearances, scoring once in the remainder of the 2023-24 season as Stoke avoided relegation, and, outlasting Schumacher's brief tenure at Stoke, he remained as part of their squad for the 2024-25 Championship season.