_(2).jpg) Cash in 2023 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Matthew Stuart Cash[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1997-08-07)7 August 1997 (age 28)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Slough,Berkshire, England[3] | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[3] | ||
| Position | Right-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Aston Villa | ||
| Number | 2 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2010–2012 | Wycombe Wanderers | ||
| 2013–2014 | FAB Academy | ||
| 2014–2016 | Nottingham Forest | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2020 | Nottingham Forest | 129 | (11) |
| 2016 | →Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) | 12 | (3) |
| 2020– | Aston Villa | 160 | (9) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2021– | Poland | 23 | (4) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23 November 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 14 November 2025 | |||
Matthew Stuart Cash (born 7 August 1997) is a professionalfootballer who plays as aright-back forPremier League clubAston Villa. Born inEngland, he represents for thePoland national team.
Cash started his career atWycombe Wanderers and later theFAB Academy before he signed his first professional contract withNottingham Forest and then established himself as a regular at right-back. He signed for Aston Villa in September 2020.
Born in England, Cash has a Polish mother. He was confirmed a Polish citizen in October 2021, qualifying him to play for the Poland national team. He made his debut the following month, and represented the side at the2022 FIFA World Cup.
Cash signed withNottingham Forest in October 2014,[4][5] after spending 16-months with the FAB Football Academy based atBisham Abbey.[4] Cash had joined FAB afterWycombe Wanderers released him,[6] due to financial problems forcing their youth teams to be disbanded, aged fourteen.[7] He experienced his first games in professional football on loan atLeague Two clubDagenham & Redbridge, having joined them on 4 March 2016 on a one-month loan deal. He scored his first goal for the Daggers in a 3–1 defeat toHartlepool United on 12 March 2016.[8]
On 5 August 2016, Cash signed a three-year deal with Forest to keep him at the club until 2019. He made his first team debut a day later, starting in a 4–3 win overBurton Albion.[9] Cash's early season form earned him praise, with former Forest defenderKenny Burns claiming that the midfielder's performances were putting those of some of the more experienced Forest players "to shame".[10] However, on only his fifth appearance for Forest, Cash sustained a fracture to his tibia at the beginning of a 2–2 draw away toAston Villa on 11 September 2016 which was expected to keep him out for three months.[11]
Cash made his return from injury on 25 November as a 79th-minute substitute in a 5–2 defeat ofBarnsley atOakwell.[12] Three days later Cash was linked with a £5 million transfer toPremier League sideChelsea, although Forest ownerFawaz Al-Hasawi subsequently took to social media to deny that the midfielder would be sold in the January transfer window.[13]
On 4 January 2017, Cash was the subject of a £6 million bid fromBundesliga sideRB Leipzig.[14] Having remained at Forest upon the closure of the January transfer window, Cash signed a new contract on 3 March 2017 to extend his current deal with the club until 2021.[15]
Having changed squad number from 41 to 14,[16] ankle ligament damage sustained during a pre-seasonfriendly match withGirona deprived Cash of starting the first match of the2017–18 season, with the injury reported to sideline the player for "around three months".[17] He scored his first goal for Forest in a 5–2 win atQueens Park Rangers on 24 February 2018.[18][19]
Cash scored the opening goal for Nottingham Forest in the 2019–20 season, in a 2–1 defeat againstWest Bromwich Albion.[20][21] During the season, Forest managerSabri Lamouchi began to utilise Cash as aright back, after injuries toTendayi Darikwa and laterCarl Jenkinson.[22] He made the right-back position his own, and his impressive performances led to thePoland national team reportedly monitoring his progress ahead of a potential call-up.[23] He signed a three-and-a-half-year contract extension with Forest in November 2019.[24]
In January 2020, a number of clubs includingMilan,Everton andWest Ham were interested in signing Cash.[25] However, Cash said that he wished to stay at Forest until the end of the season in the hope that he could help the team to secure promotion to the Premier League. He cited Aston Villa'sJack Grealish as an influence behind this decision.[26]
Cash was named Forest's Player of the Season by the club's supporters on 12 August 2020.[27]
On 3 September 2020,Aston Villa announced the signing of 23-year-old Cash on a five-year contract for a reported £14 million, rising to £16 million.[28][29] Cash made his debut for the club on 21 September, in a 1–0 home victory againstSheffield United.[30] On 18 September 2021, Cash scored his first goal for Aston Villa in a 3–0 Premier League victory over Everton.[31]
On 26 February 2022, Cash scored a long-range effort in an away victory overBrighton & Hove Albion which was nominated for Premier League Goal of the Month. He received a yellow card for his celebration of the goal, in which Cash lifted his shirt to reveal a message of support for Poland teammateTomasz Kędziora and his family, who were inKyiv during the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[32] Cash was voted Villa's player of the month for March 2022.[33][34] On 4 April 2022, Cash signed a five-year contract extension with Aston Villa,[35][36] amidst reported interest fromAtlético Madrid.[37] On 12 May 2022, at Aston Villa's End of Season awards, Cash was voted Villa's Player of the Season for the2021–22 season.[38]
On 27 August 2023, Cash made his 100th appearance for Aston Villa, in which he scored two goals in the first 20 minutes to help his team to a 3–1 away win atBurnley.[39] On 6 January 2024, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory overMiddlesbrough in theFA Cup to give his side their first win in the competition since 2016.[40]
On 27 October 2025, Cash signed a contract extension with Aston Villa until 2029, this was following a back-to-back Premier LeaguePlayer of the Match awards in victories overTottenham Hotspur andManchester City, in the latter of which he scored the winning goal.[41]
Cash is ofPolish descent through his mother.[42] In September 2021, Cash applied for aPolish passport.[43] His application for confirmation of possession of Polish citizenship was signed on 26 October 2021 at theMasovian Voivodeship government building inWarsaw.[44][45] On 1 November, Cash received his first call-up to thePoland national football team for their2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches againstAndorra andHungary.[46] The 24-year-old made his first appearance in a 4–1 away victory against Andorra on 12 November.[47] On 11 June 2022, Cash scored his first international goal in a 2–2 awayUEFA Nations League draw against theNetherlands.[48]
Cash is the son of former professional footballerStuart Cash.[49] His brother Adam coaches football at school-level.[50] He has a sister, Hannah, who works as a reporter forCBS Sports. She interviewed her brother after the Aston Villa match againstParis Saint-Germain during the Champions League quarter-final first leg.[51] His maternal grandfather was Ryszard Tomaszewski, a Polish refugee fromSoviet captivity inWorld War II, and his grandmother was Janina, born inBrańsk in Poland and later immigrated to Britain.[52]
Cash grew up inIver,Buckinghamshire, working in a branch of the department storeDaniel prior to joining the Nottingham Forest academy.[50] He attendedSt Joseph's Catholic High School, Slough, and has donated a shirt to the school[53] as well as presenting end-of-year awards to students.[54]
He enjoys playing snooker and has appeared onStephen Hendry's Cue TipsYouTube channel.[55]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Nottingham Forest | 2015–16[56] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| 2016–17[57] | Championship | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 30 | 0 | ||
| 2017–18[58] | Championship | 23 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 25 | 2 | ||
| 2018–19[59] | Championship | 36 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | — | 41 | 8 | ||
| 2019–20[60] | Championship | 42 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 45 | 3 | ||
| Total | 129 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 2 | — | 141 | 13 | |||
| Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) | 2015–16[56] | League Two | 12 | 3 | — | — | — | 12 | 3 | |||
| Aston Villa | 2020–21[61] | Premier League | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 28 | 0 | |
| 2021–22[62] | Premier League | 38 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 40 | 4 | ||
| 2022–23[63] | Premier League | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 28 | 0 | ||
| 2023–24[64] | Premier League | 29 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13[a] | 2 | 46 | 5 | |
| 2024–25[65] | Premier League | 27 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8[b] | 0 | 38 | 1 | |
| 2025–26[66] | Premier League | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3[c] | 0 | 16 | 2 | |
| Total | 160 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 196 | 12 | ||
| Career total | 301 | 23 | 12 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 24 | 2 | 349 | 28 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 2021 | 2 | 0 |
| 2022 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2023 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2025 | 8 | 3 | |
| Total | 23 | 4 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 June 2022 | De Kuip,Rotterdam, Netherlands | 6 |  Netherlands | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2022–23 UEFA Nations League A | [48] |
| 2 | 6 June 2025 | Silesian Stadium,Chorzów, Poland | 18 |  Moldova | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | [68] |
| 3 | 4 September 2025 | De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands | 20 | Netherlands | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification | [69] |
| 4 | 7 September 2025 | Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland | 21 |  Finland | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification | [70] |
Individual
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