Ben Radcliffe (footballer)

William Benjamin Callister Radcliffe (born 11 July 2004) is a professional footballer currently playing as a midfielder for club Derby County.

Radcliffe came through the youth setup at Burton Albion, where he had loan spells at Mickleover and Banbury United, before being released by Burton in June 2023, just two months after his league debut. In July 2023, Radcliffe signed with Derby County and has been a part of the under-21 squad.

Burton Albion
Radcliffe joined the Burton Albion academy setup in 2016, after a period at Derby County's youth system. His first experience of senior first team football coming at Southern League Premier Division Central side Mickleover, initially on 28-day work experience loan in December 2021, his stay at Mickleover was extended until the end of 2021–22 season. He received high praise for his performances by Mickleover's manager John McGrath, he was used in a wide variety of positions at Mickleover in centre-back, right-back, right wing and attacking midfielder, Burton academy manager Danny Robinson, stating this was a great to his development as a player. At Mickleover, Radcliffe scored five goals during his six month stay and his versitilty, strength and intelligence as a player made him popular with teammates and coaches at Mickleover. At Burton, he won the clubs Scholar of the season award.

In June 2022, Radcliffe signed his first professional contract with Burton. In August 2022 he joined National League North outfit Banbury United on a short team loan. This was later extended to the end of the Banbury's season, as he played 43 National League North games, scoring twice. Radcliffe made his Burton Albion and English Football League debut in Burton's 1–0 League One win at home to Cambridge United on 3 May 2023, a game which Radcliffe came on as an 18th minute substitute, playing in the remainder of the match, he played the game at right-back and his performance in the match was described as "assured". Radcliffe was released by Burton in at the end of the 2022–23 season. His release was seen as a surprise by Burton reporters as he had just started to break into the first team.

Derby County
On 7 July 2023 Radcliffe joined Derby County as a part of their under-21 side. A day later, Radcliffe scored for Derby's first team, in a 2–0 pre-season friendly win at Matlock Town. During his first season at Derby, Radcliffe along with his role in the under-21s, did feature in several first team matchday squads, with his first team debut coming on 19 September 2023 in a EFL Trophy tie against Lincoln City as 79th-minute substitute, he played in defence and won several defensive headers. This would be his only first team appearance during the season as an injury from October 2023 to March 2024 would restrict his appearances to 7 Premier League 2 games for the under-21s during the season. He would as feature in the first team matchday squad as unused substitute at Northampton Town on 23 March 2024.

Personal life
Radcliffe earned a BTEC Extended Diploma and an A-level qualification in business studies during his scholarship at Burton.