Islam Feruz

Islam Salieh Feruz (born 10 September 1995) is a professional footballer who play as a centre forward.

Born in Somalia, he represented Scotland at youth level.

He declared in 2009 that he would play for the Scotland national football team, and represented the country at several youth levels.

Feruz's first match for Celtic came in 2009 when, aged 14, he made an appearance in Tommy Burns' memorial match.

Feruz spent most of his youth career with Celtic, before moving to Chelsea in September 2011 after rejecting a professional contract with the Scottish club.

He never made a competitive appearance for the Chelsea first team, having mostly represented the team at U21 levels.

He had loan spells at OFI Crete, Blackpool, Hibernian, Royal Excel Mouscron and Swindon Town, but these were all brief and unsuccessful.

At the start of the 2011–12 season, there was speculation that Feruz was going to leave the club for Chelsea.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon said in August that he had not seen the player since the start of the season.

He also expressed his disappointment that a player who Celtic had helped to stay in the country and moved into an expensive flat was possibly going to leave the club.

However, he did not blame Feruz but his agents, who he felt were "badly advising" the player, for the situation.

Feruz moved to English Premier League club Chelsea in September 2011, after rejecting a professional contract at Celtic.

Because of "a flaw in the legal system" Chelsea were able to sign him for only £300,000 compensation.

His contract was reportedly worth £2,500 a week.

He scored two goals in the 2012 FA Youth Cup first leg in April 2012 as Chelsea youths went on to win the trophy for the second time in three years.

Feruz scored two goals in Chelsea's 6–0 win over Molde FK on 8 November 2012 in the NextGen Series.

Chelsea's official website described Feruz in early 2013 as "short but sharp with an electric turn of pace and able to get a shot in early."

Feruz made his Chelsea first team debut against a Malaysia League XI on 21 July 2013, coming on as a substitute in the 32nd minute for Kevin De Bruyne, but after half time he was replaced by André Schürrle.

In January 2014, he signed a new long-term contract with Chelsea.

On 29 August 2014, Feruz agreed to join FC Krylia Sovetov, but ended the loan just 48 hours after agreeing to the move to the Russian side because of being homesick.

After cancelling his move to Russia, on 1 September 2014, Feruz signed a season-loan deal with Superleague Greece club OFI Crete, managed by Gennaro Gattuso.

Twelve days later he made his only league appearance for the team, replacing Mayron George for the final 28 minutes of a 3–0 defeat to Olympiacos at the Karaiskakis Stadium.

His contract with Chelsea expired in 2019.

Feruz is a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom.

Feruz was released by Chelsea on the final day of the January 2019 transfer window, after several brief unsuccessful spells out on loan at other clubs, and without ever making a competitive first team appearance for Chelsea.

In April 2020, it was reported that Feruz had given up football to set up a company selling designer caps.

In August 2023 Feruz signed a contract with Radnički Niš only to be released two months later without making a single appearance.

Feruz was born in Somalia.

He was raised by his mother Aisha and stepfather Albashir Ali.

He has three sisters: Kauthar, Ethil and Rahma.

Wales Online and The Scottish Sun indicate that there is some uncertainty about his childhood and background.

The family lived in Tanzania before emigrating directly to the UK.

The family initially moved to London when Feruz was aged five, before later re-locating to Glasgow.

There, he attended Hillhead High School, one of the most racially diverse secondary schools in Scotland.

He and his family originally lived in a high-rise flat in Castlemilk, but Feruz later moved them to an upscale area in Glasgow's Charing Cross.

At age 10, Celtic fan Feruz was discovered by Celtic youth coach John Simpson while playing a kickabout at Castlemilk Sports Centre, and joined Celtic's youth academy.

Feruz was playing in Celtic's under-14 team at age 11.

The team's manager John Sludden said that after only 20 minutes he could tell Feruz was a special player and compared his talent to that of Paul McStay, Charlie Nicholas and Aiden McGeady.

When Feruz was aged 12, he and his family were threatened with deportation back to his country of birth.

Celtic youth coach Tommy Burns successfully campaigned for them to be able stay in Scotland, and for the Feruzes to be granted British passports.