Lewis Michael Bate (born 28 October 2002) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

Early life

Born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Bate started his career with local

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of Bromley and Greenwich. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the ...

-based side Foots Cray Lions, before joining Chelsea at under-8 level. He has listed Chelsea and Liverpool legends

Frank Lampard Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...

and Steven Gerrard as players he looked up to as a child.

Club career

Chelsea

After playing a key role for Chelsea's under-18 and under-23 sides, Bate was included on the bench for the Chelsea first team three times. However, he did not feature for the first team, and was linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge in 2021, having rejected a contract offer with ''The Blues''.

Leeds United

On 21 July 2021,

announced the signing of Bate on a three year contract for an undisclosed fee believed to be £1.5 million. Since signing, Bate has been tipped to be fast-tracked into the first team squad after impressing at under-23 level. He scored his first goal for Leeds under-23s on 4 November 2021 in a 5–3 EFL Trophy loss to Salford City. Bate made his senior debut for Leeds United on 9 January 2022 in the starting line-up for the 2–0 FA Cup third round defeat to West Ham United. He made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

debut the following week, also at West Ham, when he came on as a first half replacement for Adam Forshaw, but was taken off midway through the second half, with Leeds 3–2 ahead, in a tactical substitution for

Rodrigo Rodrigo is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name '' Roderick'' (Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last Vi ...

Oxford United (loan)

On 4 August 2022, Bate joined

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

on loan for the duration of the 2022–23 season. He suffered a hand injury in a game against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

on 11 March 2023 and, apart from a brief substitute appearance in the following game, was not expected to make further appearances. Before his injury he had made 26 league appearances, scoring once.

International career

Bate has represented England at under-17, under-18 and under-20 level. He scored his first goal for the England under-20s in a 1–1 draw with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Style of play

A strong passer and dribbler, while also being good in a tackle, Bate can play in numerous midfield roles. He has been described as strong both defensively and going forward, and has been compared to former Netherlands international footballer

Clarence Seedorf Clarence Clyde Seedorf (; born 1 April 1976) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is regarded by many to be one of the best midfielders of his generation. Seedorf is considered one of the most successful players in UE ...

for his ability to control play.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bate, Lewis 2002 births Living people Footballers from Greater London English men's footballers Premier League players England men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players