Jayson Leutwiler

Jayson Leutwiler

Leutwiler warming up for Shrewsbury Town in 2015
Personal information
Full name Jayson Leutwiler[1]
Date of birth (1989-04-25) 25 April 1989
Place of birth Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Shrewsbury Town
Number 1
Youth career
1999–2002 FC Cornaux
2002–2005 Neuchâtel Xamax
2005–2007 FC Basel
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2009 Basel U-21 47 (0)
2007–2012 Basel 0 (0)
2007 → Concordia Basel (loan) 0 (0)
2009–2010 → Yverdon-Sport (loan) 30 (0)
2010 → Wohlen (loan) 15 (0)
2012 → FC Schaffhausen (loan) 0 (0)
2012–2014 Middlesbrough 3 (0)
2014– Shrewsbury Town 92 (0)
National team‡
2005 Switzerland U-16 2 (0)
2006–2007 Switzerland U-18 1 (0)
2008 Switzerland U-19 2 (0)
2008–2010 Switzerland U-20 3 (0)
2016– Canada 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:34, 27 November 2016 (UTC).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 November 2016

Jayson Leutwiler (born 25 April 1989) is a Swiss-born Canadian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for English club Shrewsbury Town.

A product of the FC Basel academy, he was loaned to several other clubs in Switzerland for the duration of his time there, before joining Middlesbrough in 2012. Rarely used at the Riverside Stadium, he was released two years later and joined Shrewsbury for free.

Leutwiler has been called up to represent Switzerland at youth international levels, up to under-21. He later transferred his national allegiance to Canada, receiving his first call-up to the national team in October 2016.[2]

Club career

Switzerland

Leutwiler started his children's football with the local club in Cornaux. In 2002 he moved to the youth system of Neuchâtel Xamax and stayed there until 2005.

Playing in the U-18 and U-21 teams, Leutwiler came through the ranks at FC Basel, but because Yann Sommer was first choice goalkeeper in front of him, Leutwiler was sent on loan at FC Concordia Basel in 2007, where he was more likely to get first-team football. At just 18 years of age he had much improving to do and his season-long loan spell at Concordia would have helped him mature as a footballer. However, after only 4 games FC Basel cancelled the loan and took Leutwiler back as their first team third-choice goalkeeper because the transfer of Riccardo Meili fell through.

After two further seasons on the bench with the Basel first team squad and a number of appearances in the reserve team, Leutwiler was loaned out to Yverdon-Sport for the season 2009/10. The following season he was loaned to FC Wohlen, but here he was unable to hold the first goalkeeper position, therefore he returned to Basel.[3] During the second half of the 2010/11 and the first half of the season 2011/12 he played for the Basel U-21 team again. On 27 January 2012 it was announced that he would be loaned out to FC Schaffhausen until the end of the season.

Middlesbrough

On 14 August 2012 it was announced that Leutwiler joined Middlesbrough.[4] He made his debut in a 3–1 win away at Preston North End in the League Cup third round on 25 September.[5] It was his only appearance of the season; in addition he was an unused substitute for 42 Championship matches, 3 FA Cup games and 2 League Cup fixtures.

He made his league debut for the club on 10 August 2013, in a 1–0 win over Charlton Athletic at The Valley, replacing Jason Steele for the last 12 minutes shortly after Lukas Jutkiewicz had scored the only goal of the game.[6] A week later, with Steele still injured, Leutwiler made his first league start at home against Blackpool. He conceded after 83 minutes from Chris Basham but Marvin Emnes scored an equaliser in added time.[7] Leutwiler's third and final league appearance of the season came on 23 November, in Aitor Karanka's first match in charge, away to Leeds United: in the last minute of the first half, Steele was sent off for a foul on Dexter Blackstock and Leutwiler was brought on at the expense of Emnes in a 1–2 defeat.[8]

Shrewsbury Town

Jayson Leutwiler celebrates on the pitch with Shrewsbury Town supporters, after winning promotion to League One in April 2015.

Following his close season release from Middlesbrough, Leutwiler became the eighth summer signing to join Shrewsbury Town in League Two on a two-year deal on 11 June 2014.[9] He started the season as first choice goalkeeper, keeping a clean sheet in each of the first three rounds of the League Cup, all against higher division opposition, to set up a fourth round home tie with Chelsea.[10][11]

It was documented in February 2015 that Leutwiler had kept more clean sheets that season than any goalkeeper in Europe, 20 in 39 matches.[12][13] Leutwiler broke the club record for most clean sheets in a league season, after keeping his 22nd clean sheet in a home match against York City,[14][15] before clinching promotion to League One the following weekend with a 1–0 away victory at Cheltenham Town.[16]

Leutwiler continued in his role as first-choice goalkeeper at Shrewsbury until a back injury ruled him out of a home match against Blackpool in September 2015, ending a run of 54 consecutive starts in the Football League, losing his place to Mark Halstead.[17] He was immediately reinstated on his return to fitness, although he suffered concussion and facial injuries in a televised FA Cup second-round match at Grimsby Town in December which saw Halstead deputise for him once again.[18] He returned to the side for an away match at Burton Albion, as Shrewsbury beat the league leaders 2−1.[19]

With Shrewsbury avoiding relegation in their first season back in League One, Leutwiler signed a new contract in June 2016, keeping him at the club until summer 2018.[20]

International career

Leutwiler played twice for the Swiss U-16 team, his debut being in the 2–1 home win against the Czech Republic U-16 team on 26 April 2005. He also played for the Switzerland U-18 team on 18 October 2006 in the 4–5 away defeat against Slovakia U-18. Leutwiler was nominated for the Swiss national U-20 squad four times, playing three times. He gave his debut on 10 September 2008 in the 5–2 home win against Italy U-20 in the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia in Como.[21] His last appearance was against the same opposition on 20 May 2010 as the Swiss lost 4–1. He was also called up for the Swiss U-21 team, but remained on the bench in all three occasions.

In August 2015, it was revealed that Leutwiller holds Canadian citizenship and a passport and would be interested in playing for Canada should the Canadian Soccer Association approach him.[22] In October 2016, The CSA confirmed Leutwiler would be taking part in a Canadian camp.[23] He made his debut as a half-time substitute against South Korea on 11 November 2016.[24]

Titles and honours

Basel

Shrewsbury Town

References

  1. ↑ "Professional retain list & free transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. 18 May 2013. p. 20. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "International Call Ups". Shrewsweb. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  3. ↑ FC Basel 1893 (2011). "Torhüter Leutwiler zurück zur FCB-U21" (in German). FC Basel 1893. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  4. ↑ "Boro seal keeper deal, Leutwiler joins from Basel". skysports.com. 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  5. ↑ "Preston 1-3 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Kent, David (10 August 2013). "Charlton 0 Middlesbrough 1: Jutkiewicz header condemns Addicks to defeat". Daily Mail. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "Middlesbrough 1-1 Blackpool". BBC Sport. 17 August 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Leeds 1-2 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Shrewsbury: Jayson Leutwiler signs following Middlesbrough exit". BBC Sport. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  10. ↑ "League Cup Draw: Shrewsbury face Chelsea, Liverpool v Swansea". BBC Sport. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Jayson Leutwiler Football Stats Shrewsbury Town Season 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "Match Preview: Tranmere V Shrewsbury Read the full article at: http://www.shropshirelive.com/2015/02/21/match-preview-tranmere-v-shrewsbury/". Shropshire Live. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015. External link in |title= (help)
  13. ↑ "PAZ MEETS EUROPE'S NO.1 KEEPER!". Match of the Day. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  14. ↑ "Micky Mellon tells Town to finish the job". Shropshire Star. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "Jayson Leutwiler Happy With Record And First Man Of The Match". Shrewsweb. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "Cheltenham Town 0-1 Shrewsbury Town". BBC Sport. 25 April 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  17. ↑ "Shrewsbury Town: Mark Halstead hopes for run as first team keeper". BBC Sport. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  18. ↑ "Jayson Leutwiler: Shrewsbury keeper suffers bad facial injury". BBC Sport. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  19. ↑ "Burton Albion 1-2 Shrewsbury Town". BBC. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  20. ↑ "Shrewsbury Town sign AJ Leitch-Smith and Ryan McGivern from Port Vale". BBC Sport. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  21. ↑ "Match Telegram". Schweizerischer Fussballverband. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
  22. ↑ http://www.wakingthered.com/2015/8/15/9159121/shrewsbury-keeper-jayson-leutwiler-would-consider-playing-for-canada-passport?_ga=1.244390348.815297900.1422947638
  23. ↑ https://twitter.com/CanadaSoccerEN/status/791412286682456064
  24. ↑ "Canada 0 Korea Republic 2". Cananda Soccer. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
  25. 1 2 "Zwei weitere Titel für FCB-Nachwuchs" (in German). FC Basel 1893. 2006. Retrieved 2006-06-18.
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