| Jamal Lewis | |
| Full Name: | Jamal Piaras Lewis |
| Birth Date: | 25 January 1998[1] |
| Birth Place: | Luton, England |
| Height: | 1.78m (05.84feet) |
| Position: | Left-back |
| Currentclub: | São Paulo (on loan from Newcastle United) |
| Clubnumber: | 3 |
| Youthyears1: | 2009–2013 |
| Youthclubs1: | Luton Town |
| Youthyears2: | 2014–2016 |
| Youthclubs2: | Norwich City |
| Years1: | 2016–2020 |
| Clubs1: | Norwich City |
| Caps1: | 92 |
| Goals1: | 1 |
| Years2: | 2020– |
| Clubs2: | Newcastle United |
| Caps2: | 31 |
| Goals2: | 0 |
| Years3: | 2023–2024 |
| Clubs3: | → Watford (loan) |
| Caps3: | 36 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2024– |
| Clubs4: | → São Paulo (loan) |
| Caps4: | 6 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2016 |
| Nationalteam1: | Northern Ireland U19 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 3 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2017 |
| Nationalteam2: | Northern Ireland U21 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 1 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2018– |
| Nationalteam3: | Northern Ireland |
| Nationalcaps3: | 39 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 27 October 2024 (UTC) |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 22:13, 12 October 2024 (UTC) |
Jamal Piaras Lewis (born 25 January 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club São Paulo FC, on loan from Premier League club Newcastle United. Born in England, he plays international football for Northern Ireland.
When he was young, Lewis was a talented athlete competing at national level for his age-group over 800m and 1500m. He represented England Schools in athletics[2] and finished second in the English Schools' U17 cross-country in 2014.[3]
Lewis started his football career as a youth player with his home-town club Luton Town,[3] with whom he won the Aarau Masters, a European 5-a-side Under-11 Championship in 2009.[4] He left Luton Town in 2013 to focus on his prospects as a national-level 800-metre runner.[5]
Lewis returned to professional football in 2014, signing for Norwich City.[3]
During the 2016–17 season, he played for the Norwich U23 team.[6] At the end of the 2016–17 season, Lewis signed a new contract until 2021.[6] In December 2017, Lewis made his senior debut for Norwich City against Brentford, coming on as a substitute for Marco Stiepermann.[7] On Boxing Day 2017, he made his first start for Norwich against Birmingham City.[8] He scored his first senior goal in the 93rd minute of an FA Cup third round replay against Chelsea in January 2018.[9]
Lewis was named the EFL Young Player of the Month for September 2018,[10] and in October 2018, he was rewarded with a new long-term contract which ran until June 2023.[11]
In March 2019 he was named in the 2018–19 PFA Championship Team of the Year, alongside team-mates Max Aarons and Teemu Pukki.[12] Lewis made 28 appearances for Norwich City in the 2019–20 Premier League.[13] In August 2020, Norwich rejected a £10 million bid from Liverpool for Lewis.[14]
Lewis signed a five-year contract with Newcastle United on 8 September 2020.[15] His performances though were often unconvincing and he quickly fell out of favour, so much so that in January 2022 he was omitted from the 25-player squad list for the remainder of the season.[16]
On 27 July 2023, Championship side Watford announced the signing of Lewis from Newcastle on a season-long loan, with a future option to make the move permanent.[17]
On 1 September 2024, Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill revealed that Lewis had travelled to Brazil to complete a shock move to Campeonato Brasileiro Série A side São Paulo.[18] Two days later, Newcastle announced Lewis' move to São Paulo on a loan deal until the end of June 2025, with an option to make the move permanent.[19]
Though born in England, Lewis was eligible to play for Northern Ireland through his Belfast-born mother.[20] He first represented the country in 2016, making three appearances for the U19 team.[20] In June 2017, he was called up to the U21 team and made his U21 debut against Estonia.[21]
In March 2018, he was called up to the Northern Ireland senior squad for the first time.[22] He made his senior international debut in a 2–1 friendly win over South Korea on 24 March 2018.[23]
On 9 October 2021, Lewis was sent off in the first half in an eventual 2–0 loss to Switzerland. His first yellow was for a rash challenge on Breel Embolo, but his second was for timewasting after he struggled to find a teammate from a throw-in. Manager Ian Baraclough said that the decision to send Lewis off was "diabolical" and it changed the course of the game.[24] [25]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Norwich City | 2016–17 | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2017–18 | Championship | 22 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 24 | 1 | |||
| 2018–19 | Championship | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 44 | 0 | |||
| 2019–20 | Premier League | 28 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 32 | 1 | |||
| Total | 92 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 100 | 2 | ||||
| 2020–21 | Premier League | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 26 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | Premier League | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | |||
| 2022–23 | Premier League | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| Total | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 36 | 0 | ||||
| Watford (loan) | 2023–24 | Championship | 36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 38 | 0 | ||
| São Paulo (loan) | 2024 | Série A | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 163 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 178 | 2 | |||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Ireland | 2018 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2020 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 2022 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2023 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2024 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Total | 39 | 0 | ||
Norwich City
Individual
September 2018[10]