Aidan Nesbitt

Aidan Robert Nesbitt (born 5 February 1997) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Falkirk.

Aidan Nesbitt

Personal information
Full name	Aidan Robert Nesbitt[1]
Date of birth	(1997-02-05) 5 February 1997 (age 28)
Place of birth	Scotland
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	Falkirk
Number	10
Youth career
2014–2015	Celtic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2017	Celtic	1	(0)
2016	→ Partick Thistle (loan)	7	(0)
2016–2017	→ Greenock Morton (loan)	30	(3)
2017–2019	Milton Keynes Dons	19	(2)
2019	Dundee United	7	(0)
2019–2021	Greenock Morton	42	(7)
2021–	Falkirk	134	(19)
International career‡
2013–2014	Scotland U17	10	(1)
2015–2016	Scotland U19	6	(2)
2016	Scotland U21	2	(0)
2017	Scotland U20	5	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 12:21, 2 May 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 01:08, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

He has previously played for Partick Thistle, Dundee United, Milton Keynes Dons and Greenock Morton, after progressing through the Celtic youth academy.

Club career

Celtic

Nesbitt is a product of the academy system at Celtic.^[2] On 21 May 2015, Nesbitt scored a hat-trick in the Scottish Youth Cup final against Rangers.^[3] On 23 September 2015, Nesbitt made his first team debut in a League Cup match against Raith Rovers when he came on in the 89th minute.^[4] On 24 April 2016, he won the Celtic academy player of the year award.^[5]

On 1 February 2016, Nesbitt joined fellow Scottish Premiership side Partick Thistle on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season.^[6] Nesbitt made his Premiership debut for Partick Thistle, starting in a 2–0 home win against St Johnstone on 23 February 2016; getting awarded a man of the match for his performance.^[7] He signed on loan with Greenock Morton in August 2016.^[8] The loan was extended in January 2017 until the end of the season.^[9]

Milton Keynes Dons

On 31 August 2017, Nesbitt joined League One club Milton Keynes Dons for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-year deal.^[10] Having made intermittent appearances under manager Robbie Neilson, Nesbitt soon found himself out of favour under new manager Paul Tisdale during the 2018–19 season. Nesbitt left the club by mutual consent on 2 January 2019, having made a total of 27 appearances in all competitions and scoring 4 goals.^[11]

Dundee United

On 4 January 2019, Nesbitt joined Scottish Championship club Dundee United on a short term deal, reuniting with his former manager at his previous club, Robbie Neilson.^[12] Nesbitt was released by United on 6 May 2019.^[13]

Greenock Morton

On 17 June 2019, Nesbitt signed for Greenock Morton on a one-year contract.^[14]

International career

Nesbitt was named in the team of the tournament at the 2014 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship, as Scotland U17s reached the semi-finals.^[15] He then appeared for the Scotland U19 team in each of the following two seasons.^[16] Whilst on loan to Morton, Nesbitt received his first call-up to the Scotland U21 squad in September 2016.^[17]

He was selected for the under-20 squad in the 2017 Toulon Tournament.^[18] After a historic first ever win against Brazil, which was at any level.^[19] Nesbitt played in the win over Czech Republic for the bronze medal.^[20] It was the nations first ever medal at the competition.^[21]

Career statistics

As of 12 July 2024^[22][23]

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Celtic	2015–16	Scottish Premiership	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	2016–17	Scottish Premiership	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2017–18	Scottish Premiership	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Celtic Under-20s[a]	2016–17	—							3	2	3	2
	2017–18	—							1	0	1	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	4	2
Partick Thistle (loan)	2015–16	Scottish Premiership	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Greenock Morton (loan)	2016–17	Scottish Championship	30	1	3	0	3	0	1[b]	0	37	1
Milton Keynes Dons	2017–18	League One	19	2	3	2	0	0	3[c]	0	25	4
	2018–19	League Two	0	0	0	0	0	0	2[c]	0	2	0
	Total		19	2	3	2	0	0	5	0	27	4
Dundee United	2018–19	Scottish Championship	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
Greenock Morton	2019–20	Scottish Championship	20	3	2	0	5	2	0	0	27	5
	2020–21	Scottish Championship	25	4	3	0	3	1	4[d]	0	35	5
	Total		45	7	5	0	8	3	4	0	62	10
Falkirk	2021–22	Scottish League One	34	2	2	1	1	0	2[e]	1	39	4
	2022–23	Scottish League One	36	3	5	1	4	1	4[f]	0	49	5
	2023–24	Scottish League One	34	12	2	0	0	0	3[e]	0	39	12
	2024–25	Scottish Championship	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	3	2
	Total		104	17	8	2	8	3	9	1	130	23
Career total			212	27	20	3	18	5	23	3	276	40

1. Matches in the Scottish Challenge Cup, in which teams from the SPFL Development League compete against senior clubs.
2. Appearance in Scottish Premiership play-offs.
3. Appearances in the EFL Trophy
4. Appearances in Scottish Championship play-offs.
5. Appearances in Scottish Challenge Cup.
6. Two Appearances in Scottish Challenge Cup and two appearances in Scottish Championship Play-offs.

Honours

Celtic U20

• Scottish Youth Cup: 2014–15

Scotland U20

• Toulon Tournament Bronze: 2017

Individual

• UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2014
• PFA Scotland Team of the Year: 2023–24 Scottish League One^[24]