Jerry Yates

Derby County completed the loan signing of Swansea City forward Jerry Yates in early July 2024.

Doncaster-born Yates joined the Rams on a season-long loan deal from their Sky Bet Championship rivals.

Yates joined the Rams having played second tier football in each of the previous three seasons, following an impressive 23-goal haul for Blackpool at League One level in the 2020/21 campaign.

Yates came through the youth ranks at Doncaster Rovers and Rotherham United and turned professional at the latter in 2014. He gained first-team experience whilst on loan at Harrogate Railway Athletic in the 2014/15 season ahead of making his EFL bow as a late substitute against Birmingham City in April 2015.

Yates scored four goals in eight appearances on loan at Harrogate Town in National League North in 2015/16 ahead of returning to Rotherham for the 2016/17 campaign in the Championship, where he scored three times in 23 appearances. His first Rotherham goals came in a 5-4 EFL Cup loss to Morecambe, while he also netted his first EFL goal in a 2-1 home victory against Norwich City.

He remained part of the Rotherham set-up, by this time under Paul Warne’s management, and played 20 times and netted two goals in all competitions in a season which saw the Millers promoted from the third tier via the play-offs.

Yates spent the first half of the 2018/19 season on loan at Carlisle United, where he scored seven goals in 29 appearances, ahead of being recalled by Rotherham to spend the season half of the campaign as part of their Championship squad.

The 2019/20 season saw Yates head out on loan to League Two with Swindon Town, as they won the fourth-tier title in the COVID-19 curtailed campaign. In two separate loan spells Yates played 35 times and scored 14 goals, earning him a place in the League Two Team of the Season, with a single appearance back at Rotherham in League One sandwiched in-between.

Yates joined Blackpool for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2020 and he went on to enjoy a stunning campaign as the Seasiders gained promotion from League One via the play-offs. Yates scored 20 goals in 44 league appearances, with a return of 23 in 54 outings in all competitions, and his form earned him the PFA Fans’ Player of the Year award for the division.

He was a regular in the Championship for Blackpool in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, scoring eight in 42 appearances and 15 times in 43 outings respectively as he impressed in the second tier. A fine run of seven goals and an assist in seven matches resulted in Yates being named the Championship’s Player of the Month in October 2022.

After seeing Blackpool relegated back to League One in 2022/23, and being their Player of the Season, Yates was in demand and moved on in the summer of 2023 by joining Swansea City for a significant seven-figure fee. He netted nine goals in 44 appearances for the Swans last term, finishing as their joint-leading goalscorer, to take his total to 85 in 306 across his career.