Brisbane Roar young gun Thomas Waddingham has moved to EFL Championship side Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee.
The highly-rated 19-year-old striker joins the growing Australian contingent at Portsmouth, who also prised Jacob Farrell (Central Coast Mariners) and Kusini Yengi (Western Sydney Wanderers) straight from the Isuzu UTE A-League previously.
Waddingham departs as the league’s second-highest scoring teenager of all-time behind Adelaide United product Nestory Irankunda with 11 goals since his breakout season in 2023-24.
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He also scored four goals in the Australia Cup, including one in the 2023 decider as the Australian sensation became the youngest cup final scorer since the tournament recommended in 2014.
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“When I was younger the only dream I had was to play for this club, so it’s tough to leave, but to go even further than that is pretty surreal,” Waddingham said.
“It went pretty quickly to be honest, going from NPL when I got here in the 18s, then A-League straight away, starting pretty quickly.
“I loved every bit of it and I learned so much from the coaches that I’ve had and all the players that I’ve worked with, it’s a good place to be.
“To the fans, it’s meant a lot to me because I was one of them back in the day and to help the club out both on the field and now off the field is something that I treasure.”