Kieran Freeman
# Kieran Freeman

Kieran Ewan Freeman (born 20 March 2000) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Scottish Premiership club Dundee United.

## Career

### Club

A product of the Scottish Football Association's Performance School based at St John's Roman Catholic High School in Dundee, Freeman played for Dundee United at youth level before leaving in July 2016, aged 16, to sign his first professional contract with Premier League club Southampton. He suffered three serious injuries in his first two years at Southampton, but was offered a new short-term contract by the club at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Following the expiry of his Southampton contract, Freeman returned to Dundee United on trial in January 2020 and was subsequently offered a contract until the end of the 2019–20 season. In May 2020, he signed a two-year contract extension. He made his senior debut on 15 August 2020, in Dundee United's 2–1 Scottish Premiership win away to Ross County. Freeman joined Scottish League One club Peterhead on a season-long loan in September 2020, but after making 14 appearances his loan was cut short in January 2021 when the lower divisions were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He returned on loan to Peterhead in March 2021, after the suspension was lifted.

Freeman scored his first goal for Dundee United on 14 July 2021, in a 6–1 win over Elgin City in the Scottish League Cup. Given a run of regular starting appearances due to Liam Smith being out injured, he scored his first league goal in a 3-0 win over Hibernian at Easter Road in October 2021, and subsequently extended his contract by a further two years.

### International

Freeman represented Scotland at under-15 and under-16 international level in 2014. In 2022 he was called up to the under-21 squad for European Championship Qualifiers against Belgium and Denmark, playing in both games.

## Career statistics

    As of 14 May 2022

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :

| Club | Season | League | League | League | National Cup | National Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Other | Other | Total | Total |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Dundee United | 2020–21 | Scottish Premiership | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Dundee United | 2021–22 | Scottish Premiership | 23 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 2 |
| Dundee United | Total | Total | 26 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 2 |
| Dundee United U21 | 2021–22 | 2021–22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Peterhead (loan) | 2020–21 | Scottish League One | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Peterhead (loan) | 2020–21 | Scottish League One | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 48 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 60 | 2 |

* ↑ Appearances in the Scottish Challenge Cup, in which age-restricted teams from the Scottish Premiership clubs compete against senior clubs
