Luke Young (footballer, born 1979)
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Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Luke Paul Young | ||
Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
Position(s) | Right back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Aston Villa | ||
Number | 2 | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1997–2001 | Tottenham Hotspur | 58 | (0) |
2001–2007 | Charlton Athletic | 187 | (4) |
2007–2008 | Middlesbrough | 35 | (1) |
2008– | Aston Villa | 50 | (1) |
International career‡ | |||
1998–2000 | England U21 | 17 | (1) |
2005 | England | 7 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 18:55, 9 May 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 13:33, 12 July 2007 (UTC) |
Luke Paul Young (born 19 July 1979) is an English footballer, currently playing in the right back position for Aston Villa in the English Premier League.
Early life
Young was born in Harlow, Essex, and has an older brother, Neil Young, who is also a professional footballer and most notably played for Bournemouth. During Neil's testimonial match, Neil captained the Bournemouth team and brother Luke captained the Charlton Athletic team, who were the opponents. The final score was a 5–2 win for Charlton[citation needed].
Luke's 17 year old brother, Andre Young, was found dead on 12 August 2009 whilst on holiday in Malia, Crete after sustaining head injuries. Luke has said the family are "devastated" by the loss. He said at the time: "He was a tremendous and talented person and a diligent student and this is such a waste of a promising life."[1]
Luke's youngest brother is 16 year old Jake Young, who plays for the West Ham academy.
Club career
Tottenham Hotspur
Young started his career playing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1997, making over 80 appearances, mainly at full-back. He was transferred to Charlton in 2001, for a fee of £4 million.[2]
Charlton Athletic
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 Cost a 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.[citation needed] 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[3]. On 19 July 2006, Young signed a new four year contract at Charlton.[4] 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 requested a transfer, which was accepted. He was then linked with Aston Villa, Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, and Middlesbrough.[citation needed]
Middlesbrough
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/LukeYoung_MarkSchwarzer.jpg/200px-LukeYoung_MarkSchwarzer.jpg)
Young was signed by Middlesbrough for a fee of £2.5 million on a four-year deal in July 2007.[5] He made his debut for Middlesbrough against Newcastle. His first goal for Middlesbrough, a sizzling long-distance drive into the top corner, came against his former club, Tottenham Hotspur, at The Riverside in a Premiership match on 3 November 2007, with the match ending 1–1.[6]
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.[citation needed]
Aston Villa
On 7 August 2008, Aston Villa completed the signing of Young in a deal that could reach £6 million[7], 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 hat-trick by Gabriel Agbonlahor and a goal from John Carew. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 home victory over Blackburn Rovers, finding the net from close range on the second attempt, an important equaliser on the stroke of half-time.[8] After some solid performances at right-back in the early part of the 2008–09 season, Young has become a fans favourite amongst the Villa supporters. A long term injury to first choice left back Wilfred Bouma has meant that Young has been switched to the left side of defence to cover Bouma's absence, however this has not affected his good run of form.
On 27 July 2010 it was confirmed that Liverpool F.C. had a £2.75m bid accepted by Aston Villa and that Young was mulling over a decision whether to leave the Midlands club.[9]
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. He has been called up by both Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello, most recently for the friendly against Spain, but has played for neither. [10]
On 11 November 2009, it emerged that Young had, in February 2009, made his unavailability for future international duties known to the Football Association on personal grounds. This retirement from international football was made public when Young rejected an offer to reverse his decision following the injury of Glen Johnson before a match against Brazil. [11]
Honours
Club
- League Cup Runner-up: 2010
Individual
Charlton Athletic Fans' Player of the Year: 2004-05
References
- ^ "Footballer's brother found dead". BBC Essex. 2009-08-13. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ "Young checks in at Charlton". BBC Sport. 2001-07-25. Retrieved 2001-07-25.
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(help) - ^ "Charlton offer Young fresh deal". BBC Sport. 2006-06-02. Retrieved 2006-06-02.
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(help) - ^ "Young signs new Charlton contract". BBC Sport. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
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(help) - ^ "Young makes Middlesbrough switch". BBC Sport. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
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(help) - ^ "Middlesbrough 1–1 Tottenham". BBC. 3 November 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
- ^ "Gibson: Why We Agreed To £6m Deal". Middlesbrough F.C. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
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(help) - ^ "Aston Villa 3–2 Blackburn". BBC. 29 October 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
- ^ "O'Neill confirms unnamed club made Luke Young bid". BBC. 28-07-2010. Retrieved 28-07-2010.
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(help) - ^ [1]
- ^ "Luke Young rejects England chance to focus on Aston Villa". The Guardian. London. 11 November 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
External links
- Luke Young at Soccerbase
- TheFA.com profile