Thomas James Carroll is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder, most recently with Championship club Swansea City. Carroll plays as a deep-lying creative central midfielder, and is particularly valued for his high passing percentage accuracy and creativity. Carroll's style of play has drawn comparisons with former teammate Luka Modrić.
Career
Carroll attended Parmiter's School in Garston, Hertfordshire, near his home town of Watford, and he captained the school football team at district and county level. He also played for the Hertfordshire county side, before linking up with Tottenham Hotspur's Under-16 squad, winning the Legnago Tournament in Italy in 2008.
Tottenham Hotspur
In June 2010, Carroll signed a professional contract with Tottenham after scoring 10 goals in 23 games for their Academy side. He made his first senior Tottenham appearance against Heart of Midlothian in the Europa League play-off second leg on 25 August 2011, and was assigned the squad number 46. Carroll then featured in four group stage games. On 20 September 2011 he started a League Cup third round match away to Stoke City. The match finished 0–0 and went to penalties, Carroll scored his penalty, but Tottenham lost the shoot-out 7–6. Carroll's first appearance of 2012 was versus Cheltenham Town in a 3–0 FA Cup win. On 27 January 2011, Carroll joined Leyton Orient on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season. Carroll's senior debut was in a 1–1 draw at Bournemouth on 5 February, and he totalled 14 appearances, including two games versus Arsenal in the FA Cup. On 30 January 2012, Carroll joined Championship side Derby County on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. He scored on his debut a day later in a 3–2 defeat at Barnsley, his first goal in competitive football. Carroll was a regular in the Derby side and played in both central midfield as well as on the right-wing due to an injury crisis. After suffering a minor injury he finished his loan spell at Pride Park with 12 league appearances. He made his Premier League debut on 3 November 2012, replacing Kyle Walker in the 79th minute of a 1–0 defeat at home to Wigan Athletic. At the end of the 2013 Summer transfer window, Carroll completed a loan move to Queens Park Rangers, reuniting with former manager Harry Redknapp. On 22 August 2014, Carroll signed for Swansea City on a season-long loan. Carroll scored his first competitive goal for Tottenham on 10 December 2015 in a 4–1 win over Monaco in the Europa League. On 26 December, Carroll scored Tottenham's third goal, and his first league goal, from the bench against Norwich to help them win 3–0. For the 2016–17 season, Carroll only played three games with Tottenham, and he moved to Swansea City in January 2017.
Swansea City
On 17 January 2017, it was announced that Swansea City had signed Carroll for a fee reported to be £4.5 million on a three-and-a-half-year deal, returning to the club after a loan spell during the course of the 2014–15 season. In his first game for Swansea City after the transfer, he helped the club to a first ever away League win at Liverpool. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 vital win against Stoke City on 22 April 2017 in their bid to escape relegation. On 31 January 2019, Carroll signed for fellow Championship club Aston Villa on loan for the rest of the season, a transfer which was received with surprise as Villa had been linked with his Swansea teammate Leroy Fer instead. He made his debut two days later as a 74th-minute substitute for Glenn Whelan in a goalless draw at Reading. Carroll only made two appearances for Aston Villa, before suffering a season-ending hip injury and returning to Swansea City on 4 April 2019. On 11 December 2019, Carroll received his first career red card for two bookable offences, in a 1–1 draw with Blackburn Rovers. On 31 January 2020, Swansea City announced that Carroll's contract had been terminated with immediate effect.
