Luke Summerfield

Luke Jon Summerfield (born 6 December 1987 in Ivybridge, England) is an England football (soccer) who plays for Plymouth Argyle F.C., and is contracted until June 2009. He is the son of former Plymouth Argyle player and assistant manager Kevin Summerfield.

Biography

Summerfield signed a professional contract with Plymouth Argyle F.C., before the start of the 2005–06 season. He made two appearances in his first two seasons for Argyle (both as a substitute), once in the league and once in the Football League Cup.

Summerfield made his debut for Argyle, as a substitute, on 8 May 2005, against Leicester City F.C..

On his first start for Argyle, against Colchester United F.C. in the Football League Championship, on 8 August 2006, during the 2006–07 campaign, Summerfield scored with a 25 yard bullet after 29 minutes.

Although son of former West Bromwich Albion F.C., Birmingham City F.C., Plymouth Argyle and England youth international player Kevin Summerfield, many Argyle fans cite Luke Summerfield's playing style as more like Steve McCall than father Kevin. This owes largely to Summerfield's extremely accurate and broad range of passing, and tendency to dominate matches from centre midfield by linking up play.

At the early stage of his career, Summerfield was touted for an England U-19 call, and it was widely held that Summerfield was being tracked by a host of Premier League clubs, a notion further enhanced after spending a week on trial with champions Chelsea F.C., along with then teammate Dan Gosling, in March 2007. In November 2006, journalist Tony Rees placed Summerfield in the Football League's '7 Deadly Winners' article, citing him as a "rookie with a fine touch, and a Premiership look", with a price valuation of £1.5m, in a list which included then teammate Luke McCormick, who was valued at £2m.. In January 2007, Summerfield was listed as number 5 in The Guardian's ten best prospects to watch out for in 2007, an article researched and compiled by James Dart, Tom Lutz and Paolo Bandini..

Former Plymouth Argyle F.C. manager Ian Holloway has commented on Summerfield, "I see Luke doing things far beyond his tender years. The boy has a fine touch, he is typical of the talent that Plymouth will produce for the future."

On 20 March 2007, Summerfield signed a loan deal with Football League One side AFC Bournemouth, until the end of the season.

On 22 May 2008, Summerfield signed a new one-year deal with Argyle, despite making only seven appearances that season.