James McCarthy

He made his debut as a 70th-minute substitute for Andros Townsend in an away 1–0 defeat to Sheffield United on 18 August.

He received a yellow card for retaliation four minutes later.

The move allowed McCarthy to resume his midfield partnership with James McArthur for much of the next two seasons.

James Patrick McCarthy (born 12 November 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Celtic.

McCarthy made his debut for Hamilton Academical against Queen of the South as a substitute on 30 September 2006, becoming the youngest player to play for Hamilton in the 21st century.

His full debut came against Airdrie United on 11 November 2006, a day before his 16th birthday.

On 6 January 2007, at 16 years and 55 days old, McCarthy became the youngest player ever to score in Hamilton Academical's history when he scored in a Scottish Cup defeat against Livingston.

On 17 May 2008, after a season which saw his club promoted to the Scottish Premier League, McCarthy signed a new three-year contract with the club.

He won the SPFA Young Player of the Year award for the 2008–09 season.

McCarthy made over 100 appearances for Hamilton Academical as a teenager, before being transferred to Wigan Athletic in 2009 for an initial £1.2 million which was a record sale fee for Hamilton Academical.

Hamilton accepted a bid for McCarthy from Wigan Athletic on 16 July 2009.

He completed the move to Wigan on 21 July, on a five-year deal, believed to be worth just under £1.2 million.

The fee could rise to £3.0 million depending on appearances.

McCarthy made his debut for Wigan on 22 August 2009, as a 74th-minute substitute in a 5–0 defeat to Manchester United.

He scored his first goal for Wigan in the FA Cup third round victory against fellow Premier League team Hull City on 2 January 2010, and marked his first Premier League start with a goal in a 2–0 victory away to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 16 January 2010.

He was later joined in the Wigan midfield by former Hamilton teammate James McArthur.

After an impressive start to the 2010–11 season, he picked up a serious ankle injury against Bolton Wanderers on 23 October 2010, keeping him out of action for three months.

Born and raised in Scotland, McCarthy elected to represent the Republic of Ireland at international level and made his competitive debut for their senior team on 26 March 2011 in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia.

He scored on his return to the line-up against Aston Villa on 25 January 2011.

On 5 February 2011, McCarthy scored twice in a 4–3 victory against Blackburn Rovers.

In August 2012, McCarthy signed a new five-year contract at the club.

After winning the FA Cup with Wigan in 2013 he moved to Everton, suffering from various injuries including a broken leg in 2018 which ruled him out for over a year.

He was part of the Wigan Athletic team that overcame Manchester City in the 2013 FA Cup Final; afterwards he hailed manager Roberto Martínez as "a tactical genius".

On 2 September 2013, McCarthy rejoined former Wigan manager Roberto Martínez at Everton, signing a long term deal worth £13m to become the club's second most expensive player in their history; due to a clause in his Wigan contract, his former club Hamilton received a sell-on fee from the Everton transfer, which they used to invest in the youth system through which the player had emerged.

He forged a partnership with Gareth Barry which was a key factor in Everton amassing 72 points during the campaign, a club record in the Premier League.

Martínez claimed that McCarthy's performances had been so impressive that his transfer value had doubled during his first season.

McCarthy had to wait until the last game of the season to score his first goal for the club when he netted the opener in a 2–0 win over Hull City.

On 15 March 2015, McCarthy scored his first goal of the 2014–15 season in a 3–0 home win against Newcastle United.

He scored his second goal of the season in a 3–0 defeat of Manchester United at Goodison Park on 26 April.

He was included in the Irish squad at UEFA Euro 2016.

McCarthy was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland.

He is the youngest child of Willie and Marie McCarthy, and is a former student of St Margaret Mary's Secondary School in Castlemilk.

He grew up supporting Celtic, and tried out for their youth teams, but was turned down due to the large number of players the club had already taken on.

McCarthy scored his first league goal for Everton in the 2016–17 season against Bournemouth at Goodison Park in a 6–3 victory on 4 February 2017.

Earlier that day, he had provided an assist to Romelu Lukaku, allowing Lukaku to score the fastest Everton Premier League goal of all time.

McCarthy eventually missed the rest of season due to a hamstring injury he had sustained whilst on international duty in March 2017; Everton manager Ronald Koeman expressed his displeasure at Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill selecting a half-fit McCarthy repeatedly, which had aggravated existing hamstring issues.

McCarthy was ruled out for the rest of the 2017–18 season, and only made one further senior appearance for Everton, coming off the bench for the last 15 minutes of a home league fixture against Manchester United in April 2019, at which point his team were already 4–0 ahead.

On 20 January 2018, McCarthy suffered a broken leg (tibia and fibula) in an attempt to block a shot on goal by West Bromwich Albion's Salomón Rondón, resulting in the striker accidentally kicking McCarthy's lower leg causing it to fracture.

Rondón was visibly upset by the incident and also became emotional when recalling it in an interview some months later.

On 7 August 2019, Crystal Palace signed McCarthy from Everton for an undisclosed fee.