Luke Wilkshire

Football player infobox
playername = Luke Wilkshire
fullname = Luke Wilkshire


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|10|2
cityofbirth = Wollongong
countryofbirth = Australia
height = height|m=1.77
currentclub = FC Dynamo Moscow
clubnumber = 22
position = Central Midfielder
youthyears =
1997–1998
youthclubs = Shellharbour
Albion Park
Wollongong Wolves
AIS
years = 1998–2003 2003–2006
2006–2008
2008–
clubs = Middlesbrough
Bristol City
FC Twente
Dynamo Moscow
caps(goals) = 022 0(0)
110 (17)
059 0(5)
05 0(1)
nationalyears = 2001
2003–2004
2004–
nationalteam = Australia U-20
Australia U-23
Australia
nationalcaps(goals) = 012 0(3)
017 0(4)
029 0(0)
pcupdate = 5 October 2008
ntupdate = 10 September 2008

Luke Wilkshire (born October 2, 1981 in Wollongong, Australia) is an Australian footballer who plays for FC Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Premier League.

Club career

Wilkshire played his junior football with his home town club of Albion Park and attended Albion Park High School. He moved on to represent his region by joining the Wollongong Wolves youth setup and spending several seasons there. Wilkshire then travelled to Canberra to spend a year at the AIS football program, Australia's elite sports academy. He then moved overseas and was part of the Middlesbrough's youth system. He made several senior appearances for them in the Premier League, including a sending off against Arsenal, and also started in an FA Cup Semi Final but ultimately never established himself in the first team. In search of regular football, Wilkshire decided on a move to English club Bristol City.

His solid performances at the 2006 World Cup earned him a trial and subsequent three year deal with Dutch top flight club FC Twente despite reported interest from other Dutch clubs Ajax Amsterdam and PSV Eindhoven. His league debut for FC Twente was a nightmarish one with Wilkshire being dismissed. However, Wilkshire would go on to play regularly in the 2006/2007 campaign which saw FC Twente qualify for the UEFA Cup. Subsequently in the 2007/2008 campaign FC Twente and Wilkshire accomplished an even bigger achievement. For the first time in the club history FC Twente qualified for the preliminary round of the Champions League.On August 26, 2008, Wilkshire moved to Russian side FC Dynamo Moscow for a reported 6 million Euro transfer fee [ [http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/83389,wilkshire-sold-to-dinamo-moscow.aspx] ] ; while other sources suggested transfer fee was only 2 mil. Euro [ [http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=835848 Wilkshire Signs For Dinamo Moscow] Article from the Swiss web-site Goal.com published on August 26, 2008.] . He made his Russian Premier League debut for Dynamo Moscow on August 31, 2008, playing the full 90 minutes against FC Moscow at the Dynamo Stadium in Moscow.Luke scored his first goal for Dynamo from penalty on September 27, 2008 playing against Krylya Sovetov in Samara, Russia.

International career

Wilkshire has represented Australia at youth level earlier in his career, playing in the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina, and in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Three years of regular first-team football for "The Robins" allowed Wilkshire to mature his game and improve his versatility, so much so that former Australia coach Guus Hiddink described him as a 'modern player', also claiming he was one of the most technically gifted players in the Socceroo side. Luke was selected in Australia's squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and started against Japan and Italy.

tatistics

* As of October 6, 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.fctwente.nl/statistieken/spelers/spelerInfo.php?spelerID=1154326514 FC Twente profile]
* [http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Players/W/WI.html Oz Football profile]
* [http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/Socceroos/default.aspx?s=soc_player_profile&pid=391&tid=23 FFA - Socceroo profile]