Weymouth Town have confirmed on their official website how former Derby County youth talent Lionel Ainsworth has departed after just two months at the club.
Ainsworth has had an interesting career in the footballing world.
The Nottingham-born winger came through the Derby youth ranks and made his senior debut for the Rams in a 1-0 Championship win over Plymouth Argyle in 2005.
Ainsworth was flying at the time. He won caps for England at youth level, featuring for the England U19 side shortly after breaking into the Derby senior squad.
But he was released just after the Rams won promotion to the Premier League in 2007.
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What happened to Lionel Ainsworth?
Spells at Hereford United, Watford, Huddersfield Town, Shrewsbury Town and Rotherham United followed before he finally landed at Motherwell in 2014.
Ainsworth’s best form came at Well. After a successful loan spell, he scored nine goals in 39 games for the Scottish Premiership side in his debut campaign there.
He was a regular for further two years, making over 100 appearances for the club.
But Ainsworth’s career has now reached an impasse. The 32-year-old had a single season at Plymouth, before dropping down to the National League South with Weymouth.
Weymouth compete in the sixth division of the English football pyramid. And Ainsworth lasted just eight games there, scoring one goal before his release.
At 32, it’s interesting to see where he will go from here.
But Ainsworth isn’t the only former Rams player now without a club. That class of 2004-2007 has seen several academy products now in their 30s struggle to carry on.
Lewin Nyatanga, Nathan Doyle, Mitchell Hanson, Lewis Hunt and Izale McLeod are fellow names from that era who are either now retired or without a club.
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