Ethan Benjamin Laird

Ethan Laird's most recent season ended with a trophy: Birmingham City won the EFL League One title in 2024–25, and he was part of it, making 35 league appearances and scoring four goals. Those numbers earned him a place in the PFA League One Team of the Year. Birmingham also reached the EFL Trophy final that season, finishing as runners-up.

Birmingham signed him from Manchester United in July 2023 for a reported £750,000. Laird had been at United since 2010, when he joined the academy, and signed his first professional contract in October 2018. His first-team experience there was brief: two Europa League appearances in the 2019–20 season, a 2–1 defeat away to FC Astana on 28 November 2019 and a 4–0 win over AZ Alkmaar on 12 December.

Regular senior football came through loans. He spent the second half of the 2020–21 season at Milton Keynes Dons and played 24 League One games. Swansea City took him on a free loan in August 2021, and he played 20 Championship matches before moving to AFC Bournemouth in January 2022, where he made six more. His longest spell away was at Queens Park Rangers, from August 2022 to May 2023: 32 Championship appearances and one goal.

Birmingham were in the Championship in his first season there, before the club dropped to League One and won the title the following year.

Laird also played for England at youth level, with caps at under-17, under-18 and under-19 level between 2017 and 2019.