Lukas Isaac Paul Jutkiewicz (born 28 March 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL League One club Birmingham City.
[9] In the next game, playing as a lone striker against top-of-the-table Walsall, he scored his first senior goal, had another attempt cleared off the line, and was fouled for a penalty converted by Christian Roberts to give Swindon a 2–0 victory.
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,[11] but reported as £400,000 potentially rising to £1 million.
[9][14] 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.
[15] 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.
[16] 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.
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.
[25] 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".
"[30] He made his competitive debut on the opening day of the season in a 2–0 home win against Portsmouth,[31] and scored his first goal for the club a week later with a stoppage-time equaliser in a 2–2 draw at Watford.
[33] 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,[34] as were suggestions of a loan move; manager Andy Thorn said the player was very much part of their plans for the season.
[37] 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.
[49] 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;[50] by January, he had concluded that a move might boost the player's confidence.
[64] 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.
He scored his first goal of the season – and Birmingham's first from a recognised striker – to equalise away at Derby County on 23 September under caretaker manager Lee Carsley, with whom he had worked at Everton and Coventry.
[80] He was one of just four Championship players to reach double figures of both goals and assists,[81] and his partnership with the prolific Adams meant Birmingham would have finished in mid-table at worst had it not been for a nine-point deduction for financial misconduct.
[82] 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.
[86] In October 2007, he told Everton TV that if Poland wanted him, he was ready,[87] 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.