Liam Thompson (footballer)

Liam Francis Thompson (born 29 April 2002) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Derby County.

A youth product of Derby County, Thompson would make his Derby debut in 2021, after signing his first professional contract in 2020, he has also had a spell out on loan at Scunthorpe United in 2023 and in 2024, he helped Derby gain promotion to the Championship.

Career
Thompson joined the Derby County youth set-up as a teenager, having played youth football with Nottingham-based Dunkirk. During the 2018–19 Under 18 season, Thompson played an influential role in Derby's title-winning campaign. In November 2019, he was named in the League Football Education (LFE) 'The 11' to acknowledge his holistic development on and off the pitch.

Thompson signed his first professional contract with the club in 2020. He made his professional debut for the first team in a 2–0 FA Cup third round defeat at non-league Chorley on 9 January 2021. The entire Derby County first team squad was forced to self-isolate for the game because of positive COVID-19 cases, meaning The Rams' under-23 squad fulfilled the fixture. Thompson continued to work with the first team squad, and appeared on the bench, and in pre-season friendlies against teams including Manchester United.

Thompson made his Championship debut in a 3–2 victory over AFC Bournemouth on 21 November 2021, playing the whole game. He went on to make 23 more appearances throughout the season, as Derby were eventually relegated to League One.

On 2 July 2022, following Derby's takeover by Clowes Developments, Thompson was able to extend his contract with the club until 2024. Thompson was mainly used as a substitute player during the season, starting one league game, he did score his first goal in senior football in the FA Cup first round replay against Torquay United on 15 November 2022.

On 21 March 2023, Thompson signed for National League club Scunthorpe United on loan until the end of the season. However a hip flexor injury restricted Thompson just three appearances for Scunthorpe.

Ahead of the 2023–24 season, Thompson impressed head coach Paul Warne in pre-season and hinted at a possible position to change to left-wing back after playing in this role several time in pre-season friendlies. Thompson would start the season as a substitute for the first four matches of the season, before making his first start in central midfield in a 1–0 win against Fleetwood Town on 20 August 2023, a man of the match award which earned the praise of Warne post match. On 31 August 2023, Thompson tore his quadriceps in training and was ruled out of action for two months, he picked up the injury with ball getting trapped under his feet, this was described as "blow" to Derby County. Thompson did not return to action until December 2023 and on his second appearance back he scored his first career senior league goal at Oxford United on 29 December 2023, his goal came a minute after being substituted into the game as Derby came back from 0–2 to win 3–2. Thompson proved to be versatile player for Derby in the second half of the season, playing in a multitude of positions as they were fighting for an "amazing" promotion back to the Championship. Thompson made 26 appearances during the season, scoring one goal as Derby won promotion to the Championship by finishing runners-up in League One.

On 18 May 2024, it was announced that Derby had trigged a one-year clause to extend Thompson's contract at Derby until June 2025.

Honours
Derby County
 * EFL League One second-place promotion: 2023–24