Josh Thomas (footballer, born 2002)

Joshua John Thomas (born 24 September 2002) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Swansea City. He is a Wales under-21 international.

A pacey forward capped by Wales up to under-21 level, Thomas turned professional at Swansea City in 2020. He joined Cardiff Metropolitan University (Cardiff Met) on loan in January 2021, though he suffered a serious injury later in the year. He was loaned to Port Vale for the first half of the 2023–24 season.

Early life
Josh Thomas was born in Bridgend on 24 September 2002. He only started playing football at ten, having previously played rugby union.

Club career
Thomas joined the youth system at Swansea City at the age of 12 and went on to sign a scholarship in 2019, having scored in the under-19's FAW Welsh Youth Cup final victory over The New Saints. He was nominated for the October 2019 Premier League 2 Player of the Month award. He signed professional terms with the club after scoring a hat-trick for the under-23 team in 2020. On 31 January 2021, he joined Cymru Premier club Cardiff Metropolitan University (Cardiff Met) on loan for the rest of the 2020–21 season, alongside Matthew Blake. However, he was then sidelined for 18 months due to injury, having suffered an ankle deltoid ligament injury in a car accident. He signed an 18-month contract extension in September 2022 after starting the season on a short-term deal. He managed to regain good form for the under-21 team during the 2022–23 campaign, scoring 23 goals.

On 2 August 2023, he joined EFL League One club Port Vale on loan for the 2023–24 season after scoring five goals for the Swans senior team in pre-season. He made his debut three days later, coming on as a 56th-minute substitute for Gavin Massey in a 7–0 defeat at Barnsley. He scored his first senior goal on his home debut at Vale Park, a 3–2 victory over Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup on 8 August. He tore a muscle on international duty in November 2023, which kept him out of action for close to four weeks. He suffered setbacks on the injury and also became ill over Christmas, causing him to miss an extra month of action. He was recalled by Swansea from his loan spell on 4 January 2024, with Port Vale's director of football David Flitcroft blaming international call-ups and injuries for restricting the player's game time to 15 appearances in all competitions, during which he scored three goals and created two assists.

International career
Thomas has been capped by Wales up to under-21 level.

Style of play
Thomas is a pacey forward.