Luca John Connell (born 20 April 2001) is an Irish 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 le ...

. He plays as a defensive midfielder for

EFL 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 ...

side

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He started his senior career with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

before moving to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, from whom he spent two loan spells at Queen's Park. He has represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

at under-17 to under-21 levels.

Early life

Connell was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Merseyside.

Club career

Bolton Wanderers

Connell joined

at the age of nine. He joined the under-18s as a first-year scholar for the 2017–18 season, and was promoted to the under-23s for the 2018–19 campaign. On 5 January 2019, Connell made his competitive debut in a 5–2 win over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

Third Round as an 89th minute substitute replacing

Luke Murphy Luke John Murphy (born 21 October 1989) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Northern Premier League, Northern Premier League Division One West side Macclesfield F.C., Macclesfield. He is a ...

. Two weeks later, he was named as unused substitute in a 2–0 league defeat to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. On 25 January, Connell started his first senior game in a 2–1 defeat to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in the FA Cup fourth round and assisted

Mark Beevers Mark Geoffrey Beevers (born 21 November 1989) is an English professional footballer who currently plays for Perth Glory. Club career Sheffield Wednesday Beevers was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He came through the youth system at South Yor ...

' goal. He was rewarded with a league debut four days later in a 1–1 draw against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Connell's scholarship contract was extended for a further year on 21 May 2019.

Celtic

On 29 June 2019, Connell signed a four-year deal with

for a fee of around £350,000. Connell was loaned to Queen's Park in March 2021 and again in September 2021. He helped them achieve back to back promotions during his two loan spells (from

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

to League One and then from League One to the Championship). On 3 June 2022, it was announced that Connell had been released by

, despite having a year left on his contract. He left without having made a senior appearance during his three years with the club.

Barnsley

On 17 June 2022, Connell returned to England to join League One club

on a three year contract.

International career

Connell is eligible to represent both

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the

. In August 2017, Connell was invited to train with the Republic of Ireland under-17 squad. On 21 March 2018, Connell made his international debut at under-17 level in a 3–0 win against

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

. Three days later, he featured in a 2–0 victory against Georgia. In May 2018, Connell made two appearances in the

2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as 2018 UEFA Under-17 Euro) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (36th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football champ ...

group stages, playing in wins against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. He was called up to the under-18s for the first time in November 2018, and made his debut in a 2–1 win against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. In the following days, Connell started in a 3–1 defeat to

and 1–0 win against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In March 2019, he was called up to the under-19s. Connell featured in victories against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

as Ireland qualified for the UEFA European Under-19 Championship. In May 2019 he received his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland senior national team. Connell's first trip with the Republic of Ireland squad ended prematurely though as he was forced to pull out of the squad with a thigh strain. Connell made his Republic of Ireland U21 debut on 26 March 2021, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 win over Wales U21 in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Career statistics

Honours

Queen's Park *

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was e ...

promotion play-offs:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2022–23 League One

References

External links

Profile
at BWFC.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Connell, Luca 2001 births Living people English people of Irish descent English men's footballers Footballers from Liverpool Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football midfielders Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Queen's Park F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players