General
- Thursday January 25th, 2024 @ 16:30
Sam Curtis Joins Sheffield United
St Patrick's Athletic can confirm that Sam Curtis has joined Premier League side Sheffield United for an undisclosed international training compensation fee.
Curtis made 60 senior appearances for us, scoring three times, and was part of our 2021 and 2023 FAI Cup winning squads.
Sam (now 18) joined the St Patrick's Athletic Academy in July 2021 (aged 15) and made his senior debut in August 2021, replacing the injured Lee Desmond in injury time of a 2-1 win over Waterford at Richmond Park, making him the club's youngest ever senior player (at the time) at 15 years and 255 days old.
The Navan man signed his first professional contract in January 2022 and became St Pat's youngest ever starter in the modern era (aged 16 years, 5 months and 5 days) v Drogheda United in May 2022, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4-0 league win. Mason Melia has since broken that record, making Sam our second-youngest ever starter in the modern era.
The defender also won a U19 League (2022), played twice in the UEFA Youth League and made four appearances in the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers across our 2022 and 2023 European campaigns, while still just 17.
Curtis won the St Patrick's Athletic / Manguard Plus Player of the Month on four occasions in 2022 and 2023, he was named St Patrick's Athletic / Patron Saints 2023 Young Player of the Year and PFAI Young Player of the Year for 2023 as well as being named in the PFAI Premier Division Team of the Year.
During his time as a Saint, Curtis played for Ireland at U15, U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels, captaining his country on a number of occasions at various age levels before making his debut for the Ireland U21s (aged 17) in a European Championship qualifier against Turkey at Cork's Turners Cross, last September.
Sam was crowned Republic of Ireland U18 International Player of the Year at the FAI Awards last June.
Curtis started and played a starring role in our FAI Cup final win against Bohemians in front of a record cup final crowd of 43,881 at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium last November (2023), on what would be his last appearance for the club.
We thank Sam for his contribution over his two-and-a-half years at St Pat's and wish him all the best for the future.
