Keyendrah Simmonds
Keyendrah Qwamalik Tegan Simmonds (born 31 May 2001) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Birmingham City. He was at Manchester City from the age of eight until February 2021, when he signed for Birmingham. Club career. Manchester City. Simmonds was born in 2001 in Manchester, and joined Manchester City at the age of eight; his older brother, Okera, was a member of Liverpool's academy. He took up a scholarship with Manchester City in 2017, and in his second year, played and scored regularly for City's under-18 team in the U18  Premier League 2 and appeared twice in the UEFA Youth League. Interviewed in September 2019, he said that Ronaldinho was his childhood idol, that he looked up to and took advice from Raheem Sterling, that he had trained with City's first team, and that his progress had been interrupted by spells of injury. Simmonds made his debut in open-age football for Manchester City U21 in December 2019 in the 2019–20 EFL Trophy away to Shrewsbury Town. He came on as a 68th-minute substitute (association football), missed chances to score the winning goal, and converted his penalty as  City won the shootout 6–5. With one year left on his City contract, there was interest from Premier League and Championship clubs in signing Simmonds, but no move took place. He scored a late goal against Lincoln City to confirm City as winners of their group in the 2020–21 EFL Trophy, but came no closer to first-team football. Birmingham City. Simmonds signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Championship club Birmingham City on 1 February 2021. Manager Aitor Karanka said he would initially be a development squad player while training with the first team. He did not  appear in the senior matchday squad until 8 May, when new manager Lee Bowyer selected numerous fringe players for the final match of the season, away to Blackburn Rovers. Birmingham lost 5–2, and Simmonds replaced Amari Miller after 78 minutes to make his Football League debut. He scored three goals from nine appearances for the under-23s, helped them finish as runners-up in the Professional Development League Northern Section, and starred in the play-off final, as Birmingham beat Sheffield United U23 to win the overall title and gain promotion to Premier League 2 for 2021–22. International career. Simmonds represented  England at under-15 level, and was called up for the under-18s in September 2018 for the Limoges Tournament. He played in all three matches, and scored in the second, a 3–0 win against Russia. He kept his place for two matches against Sweden and the Czech Republic in October.