Lukas Jutkiewicz

English footballer (born 1989)

Jutkiewicz made his Swindon Town debut at the age of 17, as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat at Swansea City's Liberty Stadium in April 2006. Jutkiewicz received the club's Young Player of the Year award at the end of the season, and signed his first professional contract, of three years, in July 2006. He had to wait until December for his first league start of the 2006–07 season, which came in a 2–0 defeat to Mansfield Town. On 17 March 2007, Jutkiewicz agreed to join Premier League club Everton. The contract, to come into force when the transfer window opened at the end of the season, was for four years, and the fee was undisclosed, but reported as £400,000 potentially rising to £1 million. He went on to score five goals during the 2006–07 season to help Swindon gain promotion back to League One.

Jutkiewicz joined up with Everton for pre season training in July 2007, and was given squad number 27, previously allocated to Andy van der Meyde. He was loaned to Plymouth Argyle until the end of the 2007–08 Championship season, in time to make his debut on 1 January 2008, replacing Jimmy Abdou after 76 minutes of their 1–0 defeat at Cardiff City. Working under Paul Sturrock, his former manager at Swindon, Jutkiewicz made four more appearances over the next few weeks, but struggled both physically and for confidence and was unable to retain a place even in the matchday squad. Jutkiewicz made his Everton debutand what proved his only first team appearancein December 2008, coming on as a substitute in a 3–0 league victory over Sunderland. He made his first start for Huddersfield in a 1–0 win over Leeds United in February 2009, and played well in the next match, but his form declined. He was substituted just half an hour into his seventh appearance, after Cheltenham Town had taken a two goal lead, and reacted by throwing a training top on the ground. Although he apologised afterwards, he did not appear again. He scored his first goal for the Fir Park outfit against Falkirk, and continued to play and score regularly, with seven goals in the first half of the season. and he scored three more goals before a drought set in. He had been playing through a knee injury incurred three months earlier and was praised for his determination by manager Craig Brown, who described the goal as "van Basten like". However, it could not be considered for goal of the season because the award had already been presented to Anthony Stokes. Four days later, Jutkiewicz converted a penalty in stoppage time to secure a 3–3 draw against Rangers at Ibrox. He netted a total of 12 goals during his time with Motherwell. Manager Aidy Boothroyd stressed that he was "at the right age  to grow and develop with Coventry City." He made his competitive debut on the opening day of the season in a 2–0 home win against Portsmouth, and scored his first goal for the club a week later with a stoppage time equaliser in a 2–2 draw at Watford. He played regularly during the 2010–11 season, mainly as a member of the starting eleven, and scored nine goals, all in league competition. At the end of the August 2011 transfer window, Mddlesbrough's offer for Jutkiewicz, who had scored against them a few days earlier, was rejected, as were suggestions of a loan move; manager Andy Thorn said the player was very much part of their plans for the season. Jutkiewicz scored another nine goals by the beginning of January 2012,

Because a permanent transfer could not be completed in time for Jutkiewicz to play in Middlesbrough's fixture against Burnley on 14 January 2012, he joined the club initially on an emergency loan deal. The permanent transfer, on a four and a half year contract for a fee reported by BBC Sport to be in the region of £1.3m, was completed a few days later. Jutkiewicz scored his first goal for Middlesbrough in an FA Cup fourth round replay against Sunderland, and followed this on 14 February with his first league goal, in a 2–1 win against Nottingham Forest. He scored just once more that season, Jutkiewicz scored his first two goals of the season for Boro in his first start, against Blackburn Rovers in a 2–1 victory away from home. He followed up with another brace at home to Derby County to give him four goals from three starts. Jutkiewicz scored another four league goals, the last of which came in the 3–1 away defeat to Derby on New Year's Day. He added two to his season tally in the FA Cup win against Aldershot, but his form faded together with Middlesbrough's promotion chances. For the 2013–14 season, Jutkiewicz was given the number 9 shirt, previously worn by Marvin Emnes. Despite claiming Boro's only goal of the opening day fixture against Leicester City, it was credited as an own goal by Sean St Ledger, so Jutkiewicz's first goal of the season came in the next match, a shock 2–1 defeat to Accrington Stanley in the League Cup. He scored the only goal of the next match, away to Charlton Athletic, but that was his last in more than 20 appearances. Mowbray's successor as manager, Aitor Karanka, rejected an approach from Blackburn Rovers to take Jutkiewicz on loan before he had had chance to assess the squad; by January, he had concluded that a move might boost the player's confidence. On 28 January 2014, Jutkiewicz joined Bolton Wanderers on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season. and finished the season with seven goals from twenty appearances. He registered six goals in as many games in Burnley's pre season programme, but when the campaign proper began, the goals disappeared. Jutkiewicz went through the 2014–15 season10 starts and 15 substitute appearances in Premier League matcheswithout a single goal as Burnley were relegated to the Championship. The injury was diagnosed as a ruptured cruciate ligament, and although he was able to play for the development squad by the end of the season, he did not return to the first team. He made two substitute appearances in the Premier League in August 2016 before moving out on loan. He made his debut on 10 September, as a second half substitute in a 1–0 win away to Fulham, and started the next match, a goalless draw away to Reading. His goalscoring continued, prompting manager Gary Rowett to begin negotiations to make the loan permanent, and after Rowett's dismissal, Gianfranco Zola took up the club's option to sign the player for a fee of £1 million. On 20 December, by which time he had 6 goals, all headers, from 17 appearances, Jutkiewicz signed a three and a half year contract, with the option of a further year, to begin after the expiry of his loan. He remained a regular selection despite missing chances, and his 11th goal of the season, on 4 February 2017 at home to Fulham, gave Birmingham their first win under the management of Zola, who praised Jutkiewicz's work rate and importance to the team even when he was not himself scoring. His next goal, some five weeks later, was a scrappy late equaliser away to Cardiff City; his total of 12 made him the team's top scorer for the season. Zola left the club with three matches left in the season, replaced by Harry Redknapp with the remit of keeping Birmingham in the division. Needing to win the last two matches of the season to avoid relegation, they did so despite Jutkiewicz's missed penalty against Huddersfield; in the final fixture, away to Bristol City, he provided the pass from which Che Adams ran through to score the winning goal. A calf injury in pre season kept Jutkiewicz out for the first couple of matches, and then he was used mainly off the bench in a losing run that brought yet another managerial change. He scored his first goal of the seasonand Birmingham's first from a recognised strikerto equalise away at Derby County on 23 September under caretaker manager Lee Carsley, with whom he had worked at Everton and Coventry. He started six matches in November and December under Steve Cotterill, but fell out of favour, and his next start was not until March, in the first match of yet another new manager, Garry Monk. According to Carsley, Jutkiewicz was "like a lot of these players who just need a run of games and bit of confidence. You'll see a different side to him then". Ever present in Monk's starting eleven for the remaining ten matches of the seasonyet another relegation battlehe repaid the selection with some useful goals. His first goal in six months was the winner at Bolton Wanderers, he scored a late equaliser at home to Burton Albion, and at home to Fulham on the last day of the campaign, he opened the scoring in a 3–1 win that confirmed Championship football for the season to come. Jutkiewicz played in every league match in the 2018–19 season. in the middle of a run of eight goals in as many matches that earned him the Championship Player of the Month award, reached double figures on 25 November, and despite a barren mid season, finished with a career high 14 goals. The Birmingham Mail rated him as their player of the season, not only for goals and assists: "just as valuable were the unheralded hours of being battered by defenders, winning headers, holding up possession. Bandaged, bruised but rarely bettered." Those strengths also placed him top of the Championship statistical rankings compiled by the Sky Sports and WhoScored. com websites.

In addition to his country of birth, England, Jutkiewicz is also eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland through his Irish grandmother and for Poland by way of his Polish grandfather. but speaking in 2009, the player insisted that he had made no decision on which country to represent, nor had he been contacted by any of the three associations. In 2008, the media claimed that he is also eligible to represent Lithuania, with the player speculating about that in 2014 again, still, no interest for that was registered by either party. In December 2016, it was reported that Martin O'Neill was interested in recruiting Jutkiewicz for his Ireland squad.