Tom Lockyer signs for new team two years after cardiac arrest during Premier League match

Tom Lockyer has made his return with Bristol Rovers, penning a one-year deal, nearly two years after suffering a cardiac arrest whilst playing a match for Luton

Tom Lockyer has returned to football with Bristol Rovers nearly two years after suffering a cardiac arrest whilst playing a match for Luton in December 2023.

The 30-year-old Welshman suffered his cardiac arrest while playing for the Hatters during their Premier League stint in a game at Bournemouth 22 months ago. Lockyer had been training with the League Two outfit and has now penned a one-year deal at the Memorial Ground.

Lockyer began his professional career with the Bristol outfit but left six years ago to join Charlton Athletic before eventually ending up at Kenilworth Road. He previously won back-to-back promotions with Rovers as they went from the National League to League One.

He told the club’s website: “It feels really, really good to once again be a Bristol Rovers player. Obviously I’ve been training here for a while and I’ve tried not to think too much about it or get too excited about the ifs, buts and maybes.

“But as soon as I knew that Darrell [Clarke, Bristol Rovers head coach] wanted to get something done, it was easy for me to then make a decision about coming back home. It is so hard to explain but it’s everything I’ve worked so hard for over the last two years.

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“Hopefully I can have many, many more good memories in a football shirt. I’m going to celebrate the little wins back on a football pitch and I just want to enjoy it. I wouldn’t be doing this otherwise. I’m doing this because I love playing football and I’ve got that massive desire to play football again, and what better place to do that than back home at Bristol Rovers.”

Lockyer’s career took off when moved to Luton in 2020 and helped the club win a surprise promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2023, completing their rise from non-league to top flight, although the victory at Wembley was marred by a collapse Lockyer suffered during the game.

He returned later that year before suffering the cardiac arrest against Bournemouth. He received immediate attention and has previously opened up on the incident: “I could feel them put the drip in my arm and it was a hard mix of emotions. Eventually I came round and I was able to speak and to respond. When I felt okay, it was then a relief I was alive.”

Lockyer previously admitted it was “out of his hands” whether he would be able to return to the sport but has made his way back in one of the game’s great feel good stories.

Rovers boss Clarke was thrilled to add top flight quality to his squad as he said: “I always believed Locks had the ability to make it at the highest level and he proved that, playing in the Premier League with Luton Town, and his application and work-rate epitomises everything I know the fans love about our players.

“It’s been great having him around the training ground, and he’s already settled into the group well. It will be great to see him back out there in the blue-and-white quarters.”

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