Frank Nouble was once a hot shot coming through at Chelsea and then at West Ham United, but his career took a different turn, and instead he became an EFL and non-league journeyman who is still playing today.

Chelsea have a famed youth academy, as they have done for the last 20 years or so, and Frank Nouble was a product of that before he moved to the self-proclaimed ‘Academy of Football’, West Ham United.

Turning professional with The Irons, Nouble got himself a Premier League goal while at Upton Park, but he failed to ever really deliver on his promise and has instead embarked upon a remarkable career.

22 clubs into his stint as a professional footballer that has taken him from England to China and back to the English non-league system; Nouble has another new club.

Frank Nouble came through at Chelsea and then at West Ham

In the mid-to-late-2000s, Frank Nouble was in the academy setup at Chelsea as they established themselves as a major force in European football.

Naturally, the pathway for younger players at Stamford Bridge became tougher to come by and so Nouble opted to reject a contract offer from The Blues in the summer of 2009.

He did so to instead move across London and join West Ham, where he would almost immediately go straight into the first-team setup in East London.

Nouble came off the bench on the opening day of the season as West Ham won 2-0 at Molineux against Wolverhampton Wanderers and stayed in and around the first-team before starting in a goalless draw at Aston Villa in January.

The signings of striking trio Benni McCarthy, Mido and Ilan on the final day of the winter transfer window squeezed Nouble out of Gianfranco Zola’s plans, and he moved on a short-term loan to West Bromwich Albion a week later.

After a goalless three-game stint with The Baggies, Nouble then joined League One outfit Swindon Town on an emergency loan in the spring and made eight appearances for The Robins.

Once again not a part of the first-team picture for the following campaign, or as close to it as he would have liked, the then 18-year-old moved to Brendan Rodgers’ Swansea City for a short stint at the start of their eventual promotion-winning 2010-11 campaign, netting his first professional goal during his time in South Wales.

Nouble had his loan cut short due to injury issues at West Ham, and he returned to the club before being loaned out to Barnsley and then Charlton Athletic in the second half of the season.

Following West Ham’s relegation in the summer of 2011, Sam Allardyce again opted to send Nouble out on a temporary basis, with the young striker joining Gillingham on loan and, under the management of Andy Hessenthaler, he scored five goals in 13 appearances before returning to West Ham in December.

After his good form in Kent, Nouble forced his way into the first-team picture at West Ham, and he scored his first and only Irons goal in a 2-1 defeat of Derby County on New Year’s Eve.

The January window, though, saw The Hammers bring in Ravel Morrison, Nicky Maynard and Ricardo Vaz Te to strengthen their attack, with Crawley Town seeing an opportunity to prize him from East London, but Nouble rejected the move down to Sussex before yet another loan stint back to Barnsley in the spring.

Frank Nouble got around the circuit in the EFL

Following West Ham’s promotion back to the Premier League, Nouble departed the Boleyn Ground upon the expiration of his contract and joined Wolves – who themselves had just been relegated to the Championship.

After scoring in a League Cup second round tie against Northampton Town in August, Nouble managed just five appearances across all competitions before being sold to Ipswich Town in January 2013.

He remained with The Tractor Boys until the summer of 2014, when he joined Coventry City on loan and then moved to The Sky Blues on a permanent basis a few months later after being released by Ipswich.

He lasted just six months as a permanently contracted player in Coventry, though, before leaving England and moving to China, joining Tianjin Songjiang in the summer of 2015.

After a stint there and then with fellow Chinese outfit Nei Mongol Zhongyou on loan, Nouble returned to England with forgettable and short stints back at Gillingham and then on to Southend United.

He found a home and form for the first time in his career when at Newport County, scoring nine goals in 45 League Two appearances, before a two-season stint with Colchester United in which he again achieved a sense of familiarity and consistency.

After The U’s, Nouble joined Plymouth Argyle after their promotion from League Two before returning to Colchester for a further 51 appearances down in Essex.

His final stint in the EFL came with Colchester in the 2023-23 campaign, having spent the second of his first season back at Colchester out on loan back in East London at Leyton Orient.

Frank Nouble has continued to become a nomadic figure

After leaving Colchester, Nouble dropped into non-league for the first time with a short stint at Torquay United before joining Yeovil Town.

With The Glovers, Nouble hit double figures for goals in a season for the first time in his career as he notched 11 in 44 appearances to help Town gain National League South promotion.

After spending three quarters of a season back in the fifth-tier with Yeovil, Nouble departed for Gateshead at the back end of the 2024-25 campaign and remained in the North East last year before joining Spennymoor Town at the back end of the season.

Upon his departure from Spennymoor, Nouble didn’t take too long to find a new club as he signed for Northern Premier League Premier Division outfit Stockton Town.

On Teesside and coached by Michael Dunwell, who has been in charge since 2014, Nouble has played regularly for The Anchors – who were beaten by Guiseley in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup in September and have managed just three wins in 15 matches across all competitions.

However, he did score the only goal of the game in their most recent outing as they defeated Bury by a goal to nil to lift themselves out of the bottom four and the relegation places in that division.

To have played for 22 clubs at the age of just 35 is some achievement, be it a positive one or a negative one, and there is nothing to suggest the one-time West Ham prospect and former England youth international is going to ease up yet.