George Saville

George Alan Saville (born 1 June 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL Championship club Millwall and the Northern Ireland national team.

For others of this name, see George Saville (disambiguation).

George Saville
Saville playing for Brentford in 2014
Personal information
Full name George Alan Saville[1]
Date of birth (1993-06-01) 1 June 1993[2]
Place of birth Camberley, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.76 m)[3]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Millwall
Number 23
Youth career
0000–2004 Reading
2004–2011 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2014 Chelsea 0 (0)
2013 → Millwall (loan) 3 (0)
2013–2014 → Brentford (loan) 40 (4)
2014–2017 Wolverhampton Wanderers 50 (6)
2015 → Bristol City (loan) 7 (1)
2015 → Millwall (loan) 12 (0)
2017–2019 Millwall 48 (10)
2018–2019 → Middlesbrough (loan) 16 (2)
2019–2021 Middlesbrough 97 (9)
2021– Millwall 88 (5)
International career‡
2017– Northern Ireland 37 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:26, 4 October 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:30, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

Saville began his senior career with Chelsea but did not make a first team appearance. His first professional games came on loan at Millwall and Brentford respectively. George is the younger brother of fellow Chelsea youth product Jack Saville..

Club career

Chelsea

Born in Camberley, Saville came through the Chelsea Academy, having been there since 2004, when Brendan Rodgers came to Chelsea from Reading. His older brother Jack also joined Chelsea. He was part of the Chelsea reserve side that won the FA Youth Cup in 2010, having first played at that level on 23 March 2010 in a 2–1 Premier Reserve League South defeat against Fulham. In July 2010 he signed his first professional contract but only featured in reserve team action,[4] winning the 2010–11 Premier Reserve League after a play-off victory over Blackburn.[5]

He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract in January 2012,[6] and ended the year with his first involvement with the first team: Appearing as an unused substitute in two League Cup ties and also during the Club World Cup in Japan.[7][8][9]

In February 2013, Saville joined Championship side Millwall on a loan deal until the end of the season.[10] Here, he made his senior debut on 2 March against Leeds United.[11] He made two further appearances for the Lions during this spell.

During the close season, Saville was again loaned out, this time joining League One club Brentford until 5 January 2014.[12] He made his Brentford debut on the opening day of the 2013–14 season in a 1–1 draw at Port Vale.[13] and scored his first senior goal on 19 October, in a 3–1 victory over Colchester United.[14] With Brentford chasing promotion, Saville's performances saw new manager Mark Warburton extend the loan until the end of the season.[15]

His performance against promotion rivals Leyton Orient on 15 March garnered him the man of the match award and a place in the Football League Team of the Week.[16] By the end of the season, Saville had made 44 appearances and scored four goals to help Brentford win automatic promotion to the Championship.[17]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 26 August 2014, Saville left Chelsea to join with Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers on a permanent transfer having never made an appearance for the Blues' first team. He signed a three-year deal (with the option of a further year) for a fee of £1million.[18] Here, he reunited with manager Kenny Jackett who gave Saville his senior debut while at Millwall. Saville made his club debut on 30 August 2014 as a substitute in a 3–1 win against Blackburn.[19]

On 14 January 2015, having largely fallen out of Wolves' first team involvement, Saville was moved on a 93-day loan to League One side Bristol City.[20] Saville made his Bristol City debut against Scunthorpe United on 17 January.[21] He scored his first goal for Bristol City versus Yeovil Town on 10 March.[22] His final appearance at the club came against Bradford City on 14 April,[23] a match his side won 0–6. In total, he made eight appearances, scoring once, for Bristol City before returning to his parent club.[24] He also helped them win the 2014-15 Football League Trophy, for the final of which he was on the bench.[25]

After making two League Cup appearances for Wolves in the early season, Saville again went out on loan. On 6 October, he rejoined Millwall on a 28-day emergency loan.[26] He returned to his parent club to end the season with five goals – his best goalscoring tally to date – from 21 appearances.

The following season saw Saville regularly involved under the management of Paul Lambert, ending with a total of 29 appearances in all competitions (scoring once). Although the club activated the option of a further year on his contract at the conclusion of the campaign, he would not play for them again.[27]

Millwall

On 26 June 2017, Saville joined his former loan club Millwall on a permanent three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[28] He scored his first goal for Millwall in a 1–1 draw with Bolton Wanderers on 12 August 2017.[29] He scored 10 goals for Millwall from midfield during the 2017/18 season,[30] finishing joint top scorer with Lee Gregory,[31] helping them narrowly missed out on the playoff positions by finishing 8th.[32]

Middlesbrough

On 31 August 2018, Saville joined fellow Championship club Middlesbrough on loan until January 2019, to join the club on a permanent deal at the conclusion of the loan spell, for a reported transfer fee of £8million.[33] After returning from the international break with Northern Ireland, Saville made his first official appearance for his new side on 15 September, coming on a substitute for fellow newly signed midfielder Muhamed Besic, in their unfortunate close 1–0 defeat to Norwich City.[34] He made his first start for the Smoggies in their following fixture four days later against Bolton Wanderers, which saw Saville score his first goal for the club in their 2–0 success, before being substituted off later on in the match, with Besic coming on to finish off the game.[35]

Return to Millwall

In July 2021 Saville rejoined Millwall on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee.[36]

International career

In September 2017 he was called up to the senior Northern Ireland squad for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Norway.[37] Saville was eligible for Northern Ireland through his grandmother [38] who was from Enniskillen[39] He made his debut in a 1–3 loss against Germany on 5 October 2017, coming on in the 80th minute of the match.[40]

Style of play

Saville is a box-to-box midfielder, known for his energy,[41] he also can play in a False 10 position.[42] He was also used in an unfamiliar left back position at times during his spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers.[43]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 21 September 2019
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Chelsea 2011–12[44] Premier League 0000000000
2012–13[45] Premier League 00—000000
2013–14[46] Premier League 00——0000
Total 0000000000
Millwall (loan) 2012–13[45] Championship 3000——30
Brentford (loan) 2013–14[46] League One 40320002[lower-alpha 1]0443
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2014–15[47] Championship 700000—70
2015–16[48] Championship 1950020—215
2016–17[49] Championship 2413020—291
Total 506304000576
Bristol City (loan) 2014–15[47] League One 7110—0081
Millwall (loan) 2015–16[48] League One 120——3[lower-alpha 1]0150
Wolverhampton Wanderers U23 2016–17[49] ———1[lower-alpha 2]010
Millwall 2017–18[50] Championship 44100010—4510
2018–19[51] Championship 40———40
Total 48100010—4910
Middlesbrough 2018–19[51] Championship 3441010—364
2019–20[51] Championship 3712110—402
2020–21[51] Championship 4260000—426
Total 113113120—11812
Career total 2733191706029532
  1. Appearances in the Football League Trophy
  2. Appearance in EFL Trophy

International
As of match played 19 June 2023[52]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Northern Ireland 201740
201870
2019100
202050
202190
202270
202340
Total460

Honours

Bristol City

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Millwall" (PDF). English Football League. p. 41. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  2. "George Saville". Chelsea F.C. Archived from the original on 12 January 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  3. "George Saville". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  4. "New and departing professionals". Chelsea F.C. July 2010. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014.
  5. "The reserves are national champs". Chelsea F.C. 17 May 2011.
  6. "Chalobah, Saville and Phillip sign". Chelsea F.C. 5 January 2012.
  7. "Chelsea 5–4 Man Utd". BBC Sport. 31 October 2012.
  8. "Leeds United 1–5 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 19 December 2012.
  9. "Corinthians 1–0 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 16 December 2012.
  10. "George Saville: Millwall sign Chelsea midfielder on loan". BBC Sport. 28 February 2013.
  11. "Leeds v Millwall". BBC Sport. 2 March 2013.
  12. "George Saville joins Brentford". Brentford F.C. 24 June 2013.
  13. "Port Vale 1–1 Brentford". BBC Sport. 1 October 2013.
  14. "Brentford 3–1 Colchester". BBC Sport. 19 October 2013.
  15. "Saville to remain at Brentford". Chelsea F.C. 7 January 2014. Archived from the original on 25 January 2014.
  16. "Sky Bet Football League Team of the Week 10/03/14 – 16/03/14". The Football League. 17 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014.
  17. "Games played by George Saville". SoccerBase.
  18. "George Saville: Wolves sign young Chelsea midfielder". BBC Sport. 26 August 2014.
  19. "Wolves 3–1 Blackburn". BBC Sport. 30 August 2014.
  20. "George Saville: Bristol City sign Wolves midfielder on loan". BBC Sport. 15 January 2015.
  21. "Match Report Scunthorpe 0 – 2 Bristol C". www.bcfc.co.uk/. 17 January 2015.
  22. "Match Report Yeovil 0 – 3 Bristol C". www.bcfc.co.uk/. 10 March 2015.
  23. "Match Report Bradford 0 – 6 Bristol C". www.bcfc.co.uk/. 14 April 2015.
  24. "JET and Richards to depart". www.bcfc.co.uk/. 5 May 2015.
  25. "Bristol City 2-0 Walsall". BBC. 22 March 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  26. "Millwall sign George Saville on loan". www.millwallfc.co.uk/. 6 October 2015.
  27. "Wolves: Jack Price & George Saville staying, Mike Williamson released". BBC Sport. 19 May 2017.
  28. "George Saville and Jed Wallace leave Wolves for Millwall". Express & Star. 26 June 2017.
  29. "Millwall 1–1 Bolton". BBC. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  30. "Games played by George Saville in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  31. "23 George Saville". Millwall. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  32. "2017/18 Season Review: Lions acclimatise to Championship life". Millwall. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  33. "George Saville Joins Boro From Millwall". MFC. 1 September 2018.
  34. "Norwich City 1–0 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  35. "Middlesbrough 2–0 Bolton Wanderers". BBC Sport. 19 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  36. "Rowett: Saville at 'career peak'". www.millwallfc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  37. "World Cup 2018: Gareth McAuley back in Northern Ireland squad". BBC. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  38. "George Saville lands Northern Ireland call - Independent.ie".
  39. "Millwall midfielder keen to contribute to World Cup qualification - IrishFA.com".
  40. Hunter, Adam (5 October 2017). "Northern Ireland made to wait as Germany cruise to victory". irishtimes.com. The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  41. "New Wolves signing George Saville promises to be a box-to-box player for the club". Birmingham Mail. 7 September 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  42. "George Saville Praises Millwall Teammates' Role in Helping Him Thrive". football League World. 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  43. "Wolves: Departing midfielder George Saville explains where it went wrong". Birmingham Mail. 3 July 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  44. "Games played by George Saville in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  45. "Games played by George Saville in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  46. "Games played by George Saville in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  47. "Games played by George Saville in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  48. "Games played by George Saville in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  49. "Games played by George Saville in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  50. "Games played by George Saville in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  51. "Games played by George Saville in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  52. "Saville, George". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  53. Chapman, Caroline (22 March 2015). "Bristol City 2–0 Walsall". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
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