Diaz Wright

Diaz Wright
Personal information
Full name Diaz Ray Wright[1]
Date of birth (1998-02-22) 22 February 1998 (age 26)[2]
Place of birth Greenwich, London, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.77 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
2011–2016 Colchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2021 Colchester United 9 (0)
2017 → Needham Market (loan) 7 (1)
2018 → Braintree Town (loan) 10 (0)
2019–2020 → Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) 2 (0)
2020 → Welling United (loan) 10 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 20:43, 11 August 2020 (BST)

Diaz Ray Wright (born 22 February 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder, most recently for EFL League Two club Colchester United.

The son of former Ipswich Town and Southampton midfielder Jermaine Wright and brother to Drey Wright, Wright has progressed through the Academy since joining the club at under-13 level, before making his debut in August 2016. He joined Needham Market on loan in October 2017, and Braintree Town on loan in March 2018, helping the club to promotion through the National League South play-offs in May 2018. He joined Dagenham & Redbridge on loan in December 2019 and Welling United in January 2020. Wright was released by Colchester in May 2021.

Career

Born in Greenwich, London,[2] Wright is the son of former Ipswich Town and Southampton midfielder Jermaine Wright and brother to Drey Wright.[3] Wright joined Colchester United's Academy at under-13 level and has progressed through the age groups.[4] He signed a one-year professional development contract with Colchester in June 2016.[5] He was named on the first-team bench for the first time on 30 August 2016 for Colchester's EFL Trophy trip to Crawley Town. He made his debut in the game, replacing Tom Lapslie after 62-minutes of the 1–0 defeat.[6]

On 3 July 2017, Wright signed a new one-year contract with Colchester United.[7]

Wright joined Isthmian League Premier Division side Needham Market on loan on 16 October 2017, initially signing until the end of November.[8] He made his debut on 17 October in a 1–0 defeat at Hendon,[9] before scoring his first goal on 11 November in a 3–1 FA Trophy qualifying round defeat to Brentwood Town.[10]

In March 2018, Wright joined National League South side Braintree Town on loan for one month.[11] After making his debut in a 2–2 draw with Wealdstone, Braintree manager Brad Quinton praised Wright's maturity and hoped that the team could hold on to him until the end of the season.[12] He helped the club to promotion in the National League play-offs in May 2018 as he scored the winning goal in a penalty shoot-out against Hampton & Richmond Borough.[13]

Wright signed a new one-year contract with Colchester in May 2018.[14]

On 1 September 2018, Wright made his English Football League debut and his first appearance of the season for Colchester when he appeared as a substitute for Brandon Comley in their 3–1 League Two win against Cheltenham Town.[15]

Wright joined National League side Dagenham & Redbridge in December 2019, initially until 6 January 2020.[16] He made his debut in Dagenham's extra time win over Sutton United in the FA Trophy, playing the full 120 minutes.[17]

After his Dagenham loan, Wright joined Welling United alongside Colchester teammate Cameron James on loan for one month on 10 January 2020.[18] He made his debut the next day in a 1–0 defeat to Wealdstone.[19] He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 victory against Hungerford Town on 18 January.[20] His loan was extended for a further month on 4 March.[21]

After making only 14 first team appearances for Colchester in five years, with his last in March 2019,[22] Wright was released by the club in May 2021.[23]

Career statistics

As of match played 14 March 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Colchester United 2016–17[24] League Two 0 0 0 0 0 0 1[a] 0 1 0
2017–18[25] League Two 0 0 0 0 0 0 1[a] 0 1 0
2018–19[26] League Two 9 0 0 0 0 0 3[a] 0 12 0
2019–20[27] League Two 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020–21[28] League Two 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 9 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 14 0
Needham Market (loan) 2017–18[29] Isthmian League Premier Division 7 1 0 0 0 0 3[b][c] 1 10 2
Braintree Town (loan) 2017–18[30] National League South 10 0 – – 3[d] 0 13 0
Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) 2019–20[30] National League 2 0 – – 1[b] 0 3 0
Welling United (loan) 2019–20[30] National League South 10 1 – – 0 0 10 1
Career total 38 2 0 0 0 0 12 1 50 3
  1. ^ a b c Appearance(s) in EFL Trophy
  2. ^ a b Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
  3. ^ Appearance in Suffolk Premier Cup
  4. ^ Appearances in National League South play-offs

Honours

Braintree Town

References

  1. ^ "Retained List 2015-16" (PDF). English Football League. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "FootballSquads - Colchester United - 2017/2018". FootballSquads. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  3. ^ Waldron, Jonathan (25 July 2012). "Hot prospect Wright eager for more first-team action with U's". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  4. ^ Hudson, Matt (7 April 2014). "Meet Our New Scholars". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  5. ^ Hudson, Matt (30 June 2016). "Four Step Up". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Crawley Town 1 Colchester United 0". Sky Sports. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  7. ^ Waldron, Jonathan (3 July 2017). "Colchester United youngsters agree contracts to stay". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  8. ^ Hudson, Matt (16 October 2017). "Diaz Goes To Needham". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Hendon 1–0 Needham Market". Football Web Pages.co.uk. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Brentwood Town 3–1 Needham Market". Football Web Pages.co.uk. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  11. ^ Spurgeon, Simon (9 March 2018). "Colchester United's Diaz Wright joins Braintree Town on loan deal". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  12. ^ Spurgeon, Simon (16 March 2018). "Boss Quinton will do everything he can to keep Colchester United loanee Diaz Wright at Braintree Town". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  13. ^ a b Spurgeon, Simon (15 May 2018). "Diaz signs off as an Iron hero". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  14. ^ Spurgeon, Simon (30 May 2018). "Seven youngsters extend their contracts with Colchester United". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  15. ^ "Cheltenham Town 1–3 Colchester United". BBC Sport. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  16. ^ Bennett, Dan (7 December 2019). "Daggers bring in Colchester youngster Wright on loan". Barking and Dagenham Post. Barking. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  17. ^ "DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE VS. SUTTON UNITED 3 - 2". Soccerway. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  18. ^ Gregory, David (13 January 2020). "Duo Head to Welling". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  19. ^ "WEALDSTONE VS. WELLING UNITED 1 - 0". Soccerway. 11 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  20. ^ "WELLING UNITED VS. HUNGERFORD TOWN 3 - 2". Soccerway. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  21. ^ Gregory, David (4 March 2020). "Young Duo Extend Loan Spells". Colchester United FC. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  22. ^ Diaz Wright at Soccerbase
  23. ^ "Hayden Mullins: Colchester United boss rings the changes as 11 players leave the U's". BBC Sport. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Games played by Diaz Wright in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  25. ^ "Games played by Diaz Wright in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  26. ^ "Games played by Diaz Wright in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  27. ^ "Games played by Diaz Wright in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  28. ^ "Games played by Diaz Wright in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  29. ^ "Appearances – Diaz Wright". Football Web Pages.co.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  30. ^ a b c "Diaz Wright". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 December 2019.