| Danny Ward | |
|---|---|
| |
| Personal information | |
| Date of Birth |
22 June 1993 |
| Place of Birth |
Wrexham, Wales |
| Position |
Goalkeeper |
| Liverpool statistics | |
| Years |
2012-2018 |
| Appearances |
3 |
| Goals |
0 |
Danny Ward (born 22 June 1993) is a Welsh international footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Liverpool.
Liverpool career[]
Liverpool signed the highly rated Danny Ward from Wrexham in January 2012 for a fee reported to be in the region of £100,000. Despite having already made his senior bow whilst on loan from Wrexham at Tamworth, he was initially based at the Academy at Liverpool for the 2011-12 season. However after just one game, he was bumped up to the Reserves, where he made a few appearances until Peter Gulacsi returned from a loan at Hull. Ward saw out the season as the Reserves' back up 'keeper. He did however take the reins from Tyrell Belford in the NextGen Series, appearing in the club's final two matches of the competition.
In July 2012, new Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers took Ward on the first team's pre season tour of the USA. Although he failed to make an appearance on the tour, Ward was given the first team number 52 shirt for the 2012-13 season. Ward vied with Peter Gulacsi for the U21s number one jersey, and he managed 13 games in the 2012-13 U21s season.
Ward was finally given his first team debut- albeit non-competitively- as he came on for Simon Mignolet to play the last 10 minutes of Liverpool's 4-0 away win against Preston in a preseason friendly on 13 July 2013. In the 2013-14 season, Ward played 10 times for the U21s- more than any other goalkeeper.
On 29 December 2014, Ward won a place on the bench for the first team for their home tie against Swansea, due to the injury to Brad Jones. Ward kept his place as backup for the rest of the season. Due to his progress, on 23 June 2015, Ward signed a new long term contract at the club. However, due to the signing of Adam Bogdan, Ward was sent out on loan to Aberdeen to get more first team experience. He thrived at Aberdeen, becoming a key player for them, before he was recalled to Liverpool in January by Jurgen Klopp
On 17 April 2016, Ward finally made his Liverpool debut, starting in a 2-1 win at Bournemouth, and putting in an impressive showing. Two weeks later, Ward played again, this time in a 3-1 defeat to Swansea.
After impressing in his limited opportunities under Jurgen Klopp, Ward was rewarded with a new five year contract on 11 July 2016. On the same day, it was confirmed that Ward had been sent out on loan to Huddersfield for the 2016-17 season.
After a successful loan spell, Klopp stated that Ward was to remain with Liverpool for the 2017-18 season. On 19 September 2017, Ward made his first appearance of the season, starting in a 2-0 League Cup defeat to Leicester.
This proved to be Ward’s last appearance for the club, as after the signing of Alisson, the Welshman found himself as Liverpool’s fourth choice goalkeeper.
On 20 July 2018, it was confirmed that Ward had signed for Leicester City for a fee of £12,500,000.
Stats[]
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| 2015-16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016-17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017-18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |