Walsall have confirmed the capture of former striker, Josh Gordon, on a two-year contract in a free transfer from League One side Burton Albion, as per the club’s website.
The striker is the club’s third summer signing as Mat Sadler continues preparing his squad for the 2024/2025 League Two campaign.
Gordon’s career so far
The 29-year-old striker began his career in the youth set-up of his hometown club, Stoke City, where he was released at 16. After this release, he joined non-league side Newcastle Town, originally in the youth side. He made his way through to the first team and he had officially begun his non-league tour.
Spells at Nantwich Town and Welsh side Rhyl followed. A move to Stafford Rangers kickstarted his career, where he scored 11 times in the 2016/2017 season which earned Gordon a move to Premier League champions Leicester City.
Gordon failed to break into the first team at The Foxes, and signed for Walsall in August 2018, marking his first spell with The Saddlers. Gordon made over 100 appearances during a three-season spell with Walsall. The 5’10ft striker bagged 21 goals in his first spell.
In the summer of 2021, Gordon joined League Two rivals Barrow, where he endured a reasonably successful spell scoring 21 times over 73 appearances for the League Two Club. This spell saw Gordon make the step up to League One for the 2023/2024 season, signing for Burton Albion having rejected a new contract at Barrow.
The Englishman failed to set League One alight having made 18 appearances for The Brewers, and rejoined Walsall for his second spell with the club in January 2024. Following this short loan spell, Gordon has now -re-signed for Walsall on a permanent deal, marking his third spell with the League Two side.
What will Gordon bring to Walsall?
The 29-year-old striker is an experienced addition to this Walsall side, having made 284 career appearances at a variety of levels including League One and League Two. As well as this, the addition of Gordon brings stability, continuity, and familiarity to this Walsall team.
Although Gordon didn’t have a great season in 2023/2024, he is a prolific and key figure in the attack. For Example, in the 2022/2023 season at Barrow, Gordon scored 15 times in 37 appearances. This is more than his total Expected Goals (xG) for the entire season which was 11.14. As well as this, Gordon had the highest goals per 90 minutes in the entire Barrow squad with 0.5 per 90, as per https://footystats.org/player/england/josh-gordon
Gordon was the 13th/588 forward for the average match rating in League Two which was 7.04. In the 2022/2023 season, Gordon showed consistency in his performances, which should be considered a valuable attribute as it brings a level of stability to the team
Gordon hasn’t been on form over the past season, but should he re-find his form in his third spell with The Saddlers, Gordon could set the League on fire once again, in familiar surroundings.