| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Keyendrah Qwamalik Tegan Simmonds[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (2001-05-31)31 May 2001 (age 24)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Manchester, England | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Vukovar 1991 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2009–2021 | Manchester City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2021–2023 | Birmingham City | 1 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | →Grimsby Town (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2024– | Vukovar 1991 | 12 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| England U15 | |||
| 2018 | England U18 | 5 | (1) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 17:25, 8 December 2024 (UTC) | |||
Keyendrah Qwamalik Tegan Simmonds (born 31 May 2001) is an English professionalfootballer who plays as aforward forPrva NL clubVukovar 1991.
Simmonds was atManchester City from the age of eight until February 2021, when he signed forBirmingham City. He spent the first half of the 2022–23 seasonon loan atLeague Two clubGrimsby Town, and was released by Birmingham at the end of that season. He joined Vukovar 1991 in June 2024.
Simmonds was born in 2001 inManchester, and joinedManchester City at the age of eight;[2] his older brother, Okera, was a member ofLiverpool's academy.[3][4] He took up a scholarship with Manchester City in 2017,[5] and in his second year, played and scored regularly for City's under-18 team in theU18 Premier League 2 and appeared twice in theUEFA Youth League.[6] Interviewed in September 2019, he said thatRonaldinho was his childhood idol, that he looked up to and took advice fromRaheem Sterling, that he had trained with City's first team,[7] and that his progress had been interrupted by spells of injury.[7][8]
Simmonds made his debut in open-age football forManchester City U21 in December 2019 in the2019–20 EFL Trophy away toShrewsbury Town. He came on as a 68th-minutesubstitute (association football), missed chances to score the winning goal, and converted hispenalty as City won theshootout 6–5.[9] With one year left on his City contract, there was interest fromPremier League andChampionship clubs in signing Simmonds,[10] but no move took place. He scored a late goal againstLincoln City to confirm City as winners oftheir group in the 2020–21 EFL Trophy,[11] but came no closer to first-team football.
Simmonds signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Championship clubBirmingham City on 1 February 2021.[12] ManagerAitor Karanka said he would initially be a development squad player while training with the first team.[13] He did not appear in the senior matchday squad until 8 May, when new managerLee Bowyer selected numerous fringe players for the final match of the season, away toBlackburn Rovers.[14] Birmingham lost 5–2, and Simmonds replacedAmari Miller after 78 minutes to make hisFootball League debut.[15] He scored three goals from nine appearances for the under-23s, helped them finish as runners-up in theProfessional Development League Northern Section, and starred in the play-off final, as Birmingham beatSheffield United U23 to win the overall title and gain promotion toPremier League 2 for 2021–22.[16]
On 1 September 2022, Simmonds joinedGrimsby Town on loan until January 2023.[17] He made his debut two days later as a 71st-minute substitute in a 2–0 win away toNewport County; according to theGrimsby Telegraph, he "got about the pitch well when he came on, but did not have a huge involvement."[18] Simmonds scored Grimsby's only goal in a 1–1 draw with his former club, Manchester City U21, in theEFL Trophy group stage, which Grimsby won on penalties to progress to theround of 32.[19] He played eight times in the league, starting only once and without scoring, before returning to Birmingham in January 2023.[20]
Simmonds was one of 13 professionals released at the end of the 2022–23 season.[21]
Simmonds signed forPrva NL (Croatian second-tier) clubVukovar 1991 in June 2024.[22]
Simmonds represented England atunder-15 level,[2] and was called up forthe under-18s in September 2018 for the Limoges Tournament.[23] He played in all three matches, and scored in the second, a 3–0 win againstRussia.[24] He kept his place for two matches againstSweden and theCzech Republic in October.[24][25]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Manchester City U21 | 2019–20[26] | — | — | — | — | 2[a] | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21[27] | — | — | — | — | 1[a] | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Total | — | — | — | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||
| Birmingham City | 2020–21[27] | Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
| 2021–22[28] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2022–23[29] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Grimsby Town (loan) | 2022–23[29] | League Two | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[a] | 1 | 13 | 1 |
| Career total | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 2 | ||
The clash marked a welcome return to action for Keke Simmonds, who had been sidelined with injury and was introduced from the bench in the second period.