Joshua Mark "Josh" McEachran (born 1 March 1993 in Oxford, England) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Swansea City, on loan from Chelsea. He is a left-footed central creative midfield player.
McEachran was born in Oxford to Scottish parents.He grew up in the village of Kirtlington with his sister Danielle and younger brothers Zach, Will and George. He began playing football for Garden City F.C. in the Oxford Mail Boys League, where he was spotted by a Chelsea scout.He then joined the Blues as an academy player at the age of 8 and rose through the ranks while juggling his academic responsibilities at Marlborough School in Woodstock.
McEachran made his competitive first team debut for Chelsea against MŠK Žilina on 15 September 2010 as a substitute.He became the first player to be born after the UEFA Champions League started on 25 November 1992 to take part in the competition. McEachran made his home debut in a League Cup tie against Newcastle United, where he again came on as a substitute. He made his Premier League debut on 25 September in a 1–0 defeat to Manchester City. On 23 November 2010 manager Carlo Ancelotti announced that McEachran would make his first start against MŠK Žilina, which he did. He followed this up by playing the entire game away to Marseille in a UEFA Champions League group game.
McEachran started for Chelsea against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge on 15 May 2011, a 2–2 draw at home to Newcastle and in total, he made nine starts and 13 sub appearances in campaign with then manager Carlo Ancelotti preferring to use him in a deep midfield role. His inclusion in the line-up was viewed by pundits as a suggestion that the Chelsea administration are keen to retain McEachran and that they recognise the importance of younger players in an otherwise ageing team. He then came off the bench to make his ninth league appearance away to Everton F.C. in the final game of the 2010-11 Premier League season. In his debut season in the Chelsea first team, McEachran was awarded the Chelsea Young Player of The Year award on 19 May 2011.
On 15 July 2011, he signed a new five-year deal, Fifteen days later, he scored his first Chelsea senior team goal against Aston Villa with a first minute tap-in to open the scoring. Chelsea went on to win the game 2–0 after a 58th minute Fernando Torres roundup and won the Barclays Asia Trophy. On 12 August 2011, Chelsea announced he would wear the number 20 shirt, last worn by Deco, for the 2011/12 season. He requested a loan transfer to Wigan Athletic but Chelsea turned down his request, with Chelsea citing him in their first team plans. He started the Carling Cup match against Fulham which Chelsea won 4–3 on penalties. Josh McEachran made his first Premier League appearance of the season as he came on as a 82 minute substitute in Chelsea's 4–1 win over Swansea. Josh McEachran started the Carling Cup match against Everton and won a penalty for Chelsea, the game ended a 2–1 win for Chelsea.
On 17 January 2012, McEachran completed a loan move to Swansea City. On finalising the deal he told Blues News that he was looking forward to working under former Chelsea reserves coach and Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers. 'I want to get game time to be honest, and it will be good playing for Brendan. Swansea play really good football and I'm looking forward to it. McEachran was given the number 17 jersey. McEachran made his debut for Swansea City against Sunderland coming off the bench in the 66th minute for Gylfi Sigurdsson, the match ended 2–0 loss for Swansea City. McEachran made his first start for Swansea in a FA cup match against Bolton Wandarers which ended in a 1–2 defeat.
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