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Yan Valery

Footballer (born 1999)

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Yan Valery (Arabic: يان فاليري; born 22 February 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for EFL League One club Sheffield Wednesday. Born in France, he plays for the Tunisia national team.

He began his senior career in England with Premier League club Southampton and spent the second half of the 2020-21 season on loan at Championship club Birmingham City before joining Angers in 2022. Valery moved to Sheffield Wednesday in June 2024 and had a short spell on loan at Young Boys during the 2025-26 season.

In international football, he represented his native France at under-17 and under-18 levels before switching to his mother's country of Tunisia at senior level in 2022.

01Early life

Valery was born in Champigny-sur-Marne, France to a Martiniquais father and Tunisian mother. He is a Muslim.

02Club career

Southampton

Valery joined Southampton in 2015 from Rennes. On 27 November 2018, Southampton boss Mark Hughes handed Valery his first team debut in an EFL Cup match against Leicester City. Four days later, he made his league debut, playing the whole match in a 2-2 draw against Manchester United.

On 2 March 2019, Valery scored his first Southampton goal in a 3-2 defeat away to Manchester United, opening the scoring with "an outstanding finish". The week later, Valery scored again in a 2-1 win at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Valery ended the season with a total of 23 appearances. At the end of the season, Valery was voted as 'Saints Young Player of the Season'.

Despite this, the 2019-20 season would be tough for Valery, who only made a total of 11 starts for Southampton. Valery later revealed that he had glandular fever which kept him out for a significant part of the season. The arrival of Kyle Walker-Peters from Tottenham Hotspur, initially on loan, made it harder for Valery to get back into the Southampton first team.

On 26 January 2021, Valery made his first Premier League start of the season in Southampton's 3-1 defeat to Arsenal.

Loan to Birmingham City

On 1 February 2021, Valery joined Championship club Birmingham City for the remainder of the 2020-21 season. He made his debut five days later as a late substitute in a 3-2 loss away to Bournemouth, and replaced Maxime Colin in the starting eleven for the next fixture, another defeat. He made seven appearances (two starts) in the early part of his loan spell but had no matchday involvement after Lee Bowyer took over as head coach in mid-March.

Angers

On 1 September 2022, Valery joined Ligue 1 club Angers on a four-year contract.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 21 June 2024, Valery returned to England, signing for Sheffield Wednesday for an undisclosed fee. He made his Wednesday debut against Plymouth Argyle on 11 August 2024, starting the game in a 4-0 victory. He scored his first goal for Wednesday away at Middlesbrough on Boxing day, scoring the equalising goal after Wednesday went 3-0 down.

Loan to Young Boys

On 9 February 2026, Valery joined Swiss Super League side Young Boys on loan for the remainder of the season, without the option to buy.

03International career

Valery has represented France at both under-17 and under-18 level. In January 2019, he met with Tunisia manager Alain Giresse and agreed to play for the Tunisia national team.

In September 2022, Valery accepted a call-up to play for Tunisia in friendlies against Comoros and Brazil in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He made his debut as a late substitute in the 5-1 loss to Brazil on 27 September. He was called up to the Tunisia squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations held in Morocco.

04Career statistics

Club

As of 12 September 2026
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Southampton U23, U21 2016-17 , , , , 4030
2017-18 , , , , 2020
2018-19 , , , , 3030
2020-21 , , , , 2020
Total , , , 110110
Southampton 2018-19 Premier League 2320010, 242
2019-20 Premier League 1100010, 120
2020-21 Premier League 301000, 40
2021-22 Premier League 503030, 110
2022-23 Premier League 100010, 20
Total 4324060, 532
Birmingham City (loan) 2020-21 Championship 70, , , 70
Angers 2022-23 Ligue 1 30010, , 310
2023-24 Ligue 2 35020, , 370
Total 6503000, 680
Sheffield Wednesday 2024-25 Championship 3931000, 403
2025-26 Championship 2300000, 230
2026-27 League One 5100100061
Total 674101000694
Young Boys (loan) 2025-26 Swiss Super League 1400000, 140
Career total 196680701102226

International

As of 25 June 2026
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Tunisia 202210
202360
202410
2025120
202650
Total250
Watch videos about Yan ValeryExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Yan Valery, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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