Jimmy Smith

James Dean "Jimmy" Smith (born 7 January 1987 in London Borough of Newham, England) is a professional Football (soccer) currently playing for Sheffield Wednesday F.C. on loan from Chelsea F.C..

Career

Chelsea

Smith is an attacking-midfielder by trade and made his first appearance for the Chelsea F.C. first team in the last game of the FA Premier League 2005–06 Premiership season, coming on as a substitute for Ricardo Carvalho against Newcastle United F.C..

He had been part of the Chelsea Academy for nearly three years when he was first called into the First Team, and José Mourinho has stated that he wishes for more young players to follow in Smith's footsteps and become part of the main squad.

Queens Park Rangers

On 27 September 2006 Jimmy joined Queens Park Rangers F.C on loan for an initial month.

In that month Smith impressed, scoring twice in his first two games including a goal on his home debut at Loftus Road in the 3–3 draw with Norwich City F.C.. He impressed the QPR management team enough that it was announced in October 2006 his loan spell would be extended for a further two months. Later on in the year, QPR announced they had extended the loan until the end of the season.

On 4 November 2006 Jimmy Smith scored two goals against Crystal Palace F.C. at Loftus Road to help QPR win 4–2, the first goal was particularly good, a volley after a good chest control on the edge of the area. He got the second with a neat header.

Norwich City

On 19 July 2007, he signed on loan for Championship side Norwich City, a deal that ran until the end of December. However, on 25 July 2007, Smith sustained a worrying calf injury in Norwich's pre-season friendly with FC Zwolle, which kept him out of action for almost three months.

Smith finally made his competitive debut for Norwich on 23 October 2007, as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Burnley F.C. at Turf Moor.

The final appearance of his loan spell with Norwich City F.C. came in their 1–1 home draw vs Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. on 29 December 2007. Smith has largely disappointed in his loan spell, however, he has been played out of position on the right of a four man midfield for much of his time at the club. After the game with Wolves, Norwich manager Glenn Roeder confirmed he had been in talks with Chelsea sporting director Frank Arnesen and that his club hoped to extend Smith's time there until the end of the season.
Norwich however failed to reach a deal for the extension of Smith's loan contract and so on the 4 January 2008, he returned to Chelsea, where he has since been a regular feature of the reserves team.

Sheffield Wednesday

In June 2008, it was reported that Football League Championship side Sheffield Wednesday F.C. were interested in Smith. It was later announced on 1 July 2008 that the midfielder would be joining the Owls on a loan deal until 10 January 2009.. Smith had infrequent appearances in his first three months with Wednesday. He started only three games up to the end of October including away at Birmingham City where he was sent off after 65 minutes.