Luke Young (footballer)

Football player infobox
playername = Luke Young


fullname = Luke Paul Young
height = height|ft=6|in=0
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1979|7|19|df=y
cityofbirth = Harlow
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = Aston Villa
clubnumber = 2
position = Right-back
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1997–2001
2001–2007
2007–2008
2008–
clubs = Tottenham Hotspur
Charlton Athletic
Middlesbrough
Aston Villa
caps(goals) = 058 (0)
187 (4)
035 (1)
007 (0)
nationalyears = 1998–2000
2005–-
nationalteam = England U21
England
nationalcaps(goals) = 017 (1)
007 (0)
pcupdate = 02:20, 6 October 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 13:33, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Luke Paul Young (born 19 July 1979 in Harlow, Essex) is an English footballer, currently playing in the right back position for Aston Villa in the English Premier League, and is also currently an England international.

Family

Young has an older brother, Neil Young, who is also a professional footballer, playing for Aston Villa During Neil's testimonial match, Neil captained the Bournemouth team and brother Luke captained the Charlton team, who were the opponents. The final score was a 5-2 win for Charlton Athletic. Luke also has a younger brother who is currently at West Ham United's Youth Academy.Fact|date=July 2007

Career

Tottenham

Young started his career playing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1997, making over 50 appearances, mainly at full-back. He was transferred to Charlton in 2001, for a fee of £4 million. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Young checks in at Charlton |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/charlton_athletic/1457424.stm |work= |publisher="BBC Sport" |date=2001-07-25 |accessdate=2001-07-25 ]

Charlton

He had made over 180 league appearances for Charlton, once playing alongside Mark Fish, Jorge Costa and Jonathan Fortune in a defence whose last names combined to 'Young Fish Costa Fortune'. In the spring of 2005 he was voted player of the year by the Charlton fans.

Before Alan Curbishley left Charlton, Young had handed in a transfer request, since he and Curbishley had not got on.Fact|date=July 2007 After Curbishley left, Young withdrew his transfer request, but after Iain Dowie was appointed manager he reinstated it, citing the club not offering him a new contract even though he still had a year left on his existing contract. The following day Young was offered a new three year deal at The Valley [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Charlton offer Young fresh deal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/charlton_athletic/5042576.stm |work= |publisher="BBC Sport" |date=2006-06-02 |accessdate=2006-06-02 ] . On 19 July 2006, Young signed a new four year contract at Charlton. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Young signs new Charlton contract |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/charlton_athletic/5196262.stm |work= |publisher="BBC Sport" |date=2006-07-19 |accessdate=2006-07-19 ] However, Charlton had a very poor Premiership season, and went through three managers: Iain Dowie, Les Reed, and Alan Pardew (who had been dismissed by West Ham). Charlton finished 19th and were relegated to the Championship. Young asked for a transfer request, which was accepted. He was then linked with Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, and Middlesbrough.Fact|date=August 2008

Middlesbrough

Young was signed by Middlesbrough for a fee of £2.5 million on a four-year deal in July 2007. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Young makes Middlesbrough switch |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/6909329.stm |work= |publisher="BBC Sport" |date=2007-07-26 |accessdate=2007-07-26 ] He made his debut for Middlesbrough against Newcastle. His first goal for Middlesbrough came against his former club, Tottenham Hotspur, at The Riverside in a Premiership match on 3 November, 2007, with the match ending 1–1.

Young played all but the first 3 games of the season and was nicknamed "Mr.Consistent" by Middlesbrough fans after a very good solid season on Teesside and just missed out on the Middlesbrough fans player of the season award.Fact|date=August 2008

Aston Villa

On August 7 2008, Aston Villa completed the signing of Young in a deal that could reach £6 million [cite news |title=Gibson: Why We Agreed To £6m Deal
url=http://www.mfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,1~1361177,00.html |publisher="Middlesbrough F.C." |date=2008-08-09 |accessdate=2008-08-09 ] , on a three-year contract. Young made his Aston Villa debut in their opening day Premiership fixture against Manchester City, which they won 4–2 thanks to a hatrick by Gabriel Agbonlahor and a goal from John Carew.

International career

Young's first call up to the England team came at the end of the 2004–05 season. His first game for England was on 28 May 2005, when he came on as substitute against the USA with 14 minutes to play. His first full appearance in an England shirt came on 3 September 2005, when he played the full 90 minutes in the World Cup qualifying game against Wales, which England won 1-0. However, due to injury Young failed to make the final England squad for the 2006 World Cup. On 21 March, 2007, Steve McClaren drafted Young into the England team for the qualifiers against Israel and Andorra because of injuries to squad members.

As of 12 July 2007 he has played for his country seven times, although the last time he was capped was against Argentina in November 2005.

Following Ashley Cole's withdrawal through injury, Young was called up to the squad to face Russia on 17 October.

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=15624|name=Luke Young
* [http://www.thefa.com/England/SeniorTeam/Players/Postings/2005/05/PlayerProfile_Luke+Young TheFA.com profile]