Lukas Jutkiewicz

Football player infobox
playername = Lukas Jutkiewicz


fullname = Lukas Isaac P. Jutkiewicz
nickname = Lee
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1989|3|28
cityofbirth = Southampton
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=1
position = Striker
currentclub = Everton
clubnumber = 27
youthyears = 1999–2002
youthclubs = Southampton
years = 2005–2007
2007–
2008
clubs = Swindon Town
Everton
→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)
caps(goals) = 38 (5)
00 (0)
03 (0)
nationalyears = 2007
nationalteam = Poland U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 000 (0)
pcupdate = 15:10, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate =

Lukas Isaac P. Jutkiewicz (born March 28 1989 in Southampton) is an English-Polish football player for Everton.

Club career

windon Town

Having been released by Southampton as a 14-year-old, Jutkiewicz first rose to prominence in 2004, after joining Swindon Town when he ended the Milk Cup tournament in Northern Ireland as top goalscorer - emulating the feat of Wayne Rooney, who participated in the tournament four years earlier.

At the age of 17, Jutkiewicz was handed his professional debut, coming on as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat at Swansea's Liberty Stadium in April 2006. A week later, he was handed his first start, when he gave a hard-working performance in a 2-1 win at Scunthorpe.

Eager to hold on to the young star, manager Iffy Onuora promised Jutkiewicz a professional deal, despite him still having a year of his scholarship remaining - but doubt was cast over the deal when Onuora was sacked and replaced with new boss Dennis Wise during May. When Jutkiewicz had no contact with Wise over the summer, he admitted he was "slightly concerned" about his deal - but any fears were dispelled when he signed a three year contract in July 2006.

Jutkiewicz was patient for his introduction to the first team in 2006–07, but finally made his first league start of the season in Swindon's 2-0 defeat to Mansfield. The next game, against top of the table Walsall, saw Jutkiewicz score his first senior goal to guide Swindon Town to victory. Jutkiewicz went on to score four more goals during the 06/07 season to help the club gain promotion to League 1.

Everton

In March 2007, Jutkiewicz signed a pre-contract agreement with Everton for a rumoured fee of £400,000, rising to £1,000,000 on appearances. [cite news | date=2007-03-17 | url=http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145787&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145780&contentPK=16888892&folderPk=100269&pNodeId=145803 | title=Everton Net £1M Swindon Teenager | work=Western Daily Press|accessdate=2007-03-17] He joined up with the club for pre-season training in July 2007, and was handed the number 27 shirt - previously worn by Andy van der Meyde.

Jutkiewicz scored on his Everton debut in a friendly match victory over Bury.He was on the bench for both legs of Everton's 4-3 aggregate win over Metalist Kharkiv in the UEFA Cup 3rd qualifying round in September, 2007, though he was not introduced.

Plymouth Argyle

In January 2008 Plymouth Argyle signed Jutkiewicz on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season. Here he worked work under his former boss at Swindon, Paul Sturrock. [cite news | date=2008-01-02 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/plymouth_argyle/7166294.stm | title=Plymouth seal Jutkiewicz switch | work=BBC Sport|accessdate=2008-01-12] He made his debut for the Pilgrims three days later in their 3-2 FA Cup victory over Hull City, coming on as an 85th minute substitute. [cite news | date=2008-01-05 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7163973.stm | title=FA Cup - Plymouth 3-2 Hull | work=BBC Sport|accessdate=2008-01-12] , and made his first start for the club in the following game, a 1-0 loss at Burnley.

International career

Though born in England, Jutkiewicz is also eligible to play for Poland, Lithuania, and the Republic of Ireland. In 2007, Jutkiewicz decided to represent Poland, the country where his grandfather was born. [cite news | date=2007-10-11 | url=http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/jutkiewicz-s-ambition.html | title=Jutkiewicz's ambition | work=Everton F.C.|accessdate=2007-10-11]

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=43635|name=Lukas Jutkiewicz