Club News

A closer look at Austin

325 professional games, 150 professional goals. Albion’s newest recruit Charlie Austin has quite the goalscoring record.

Starting his career in non-league at Kintbury Rangers and Hungerford Town following an early release by Reading, the striker really began to make a name for himself at Poole Town - incredibly netting 64 times from just 57 appearances.

Then-League One team Swindon Town took a punt on him in 2009 and, after scoring three minutes into his full Football League debut, he never looked back.

Two years and 37 goals later he was snapped up by Burnley, where another prolific spell of 45 in 90 followed despite the step-up to Championship level.

QPR came calling at the start of their promotion-winning 2013/14 campaign and Charlie played a crucial part in their successful season. He notched 17 times as the Loftus Road side went up via the Play-Offs, and the Berkshire-born forward was then given his first shot at the Premier League.

Unsurprisingly Austin had no trouble adapting to the top flight as he grabbed 18 from 35 fixtures, better than a goal every other game. That form earned him a call-up to the England squad in May 2015 for the games against the Republic of Ireland and Slovenia.

He moved to Southampton the following January and, in the three-and-a-half years since, has bagged a total of 20 goals from 76 showings across all competitions.

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