Luke Alexander Matheson (born 3 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 le ...

who plays as a defender 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 ...

club

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 ...

. A product of the youth team at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, he made his first team debut at the age of 15 and became the club's youngest ever player. At the age of 16 he scored an equaliser against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

game at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

to take the game to a penalty shootout. He earned a move to

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 Foo ...

side

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, and has since spent time on loan back with Rochdale and then further spells at

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

and

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

. In 2023, he left Wolves without making a senior appearance and moved to

. He is a former England U17 and England U18 international with a combined total of five caps.

Club career

Rochdale

Matheson was born in

Fallowfield Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wil ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He attended

Trinity Church of England High School Trinity Church of England High School, also known as Trinity CE High School, is an academy school located in Hulme, Manchester, North West. The headteacher is Julian Nicholls. The school is in between Higher Cambridge Street and Boundary Lane n ...

Hulme Hulme () is an inner city area and Ward (politics), electoral ward of Manchester, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, the nam ...

, Manchester. Progressing through

's academy, Matheson made his first-team debut on 4 September 2018, during their

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

group-stage tie against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

at the age of 15 years and 336 days, making him the club's youngest ever debutant. As well as this, Matheson was awarded with the man-of-the-match award for his performance in the 2–1 victory. On 19 January 2019, Matheson made his

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...

debut in a 1–1

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 ...

draw at home to

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

, as a half-time substitute for

Matt Done Matthew Done (born 22 July 1988) is an English former professional association football, footballer who is now a Player Development Phase Coach at club Port Vale F.C., Port Vale. In a seventeen-year playing career he scored 60 goals in 592 lea ...

. On 25 September 2019, at the age of just 16, he scored the equaliser in a 1–1 draw against

in the

third round at

, which Dale eventually lost 5–3 on penalties. On 31 October, he signed a three-year professional contract with the club, having turned 17 earlier in the month. Matheson scored his first league goal on 11 January 2020, opening a 2–0 home win over

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 31 January 2020, Matheson signed for

side

, before re-joining Rochdale on loan for the remainder of the season. The transfer fee was £1 million.

Ipswich Town (loan)

On 1 February 2021, Matheson joined

side,

, on loan until the end of the season.He made his first appearance starting in a 2–0 win against Blackpool. He made two appearances for Ipswich before returning to Wolves at the end of his loan spell.

Hamilton Academical (loan)

On 27 August 2021, Matheson signed for Scottish club

on a season-long loan. He played a total of nine

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

games and two games in the

Scottish League Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

Scunthorpe United (loan)

On 15 January 2022, Matheson signed for

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 ...

club Scunthorpe United, for the remainder of the season. This would see him reunite with ex-

boss, Keith Hill. He made his debut on the same day, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 loss against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. Matheson was released by Wolves at the end of the 2022–23 season.

Bolton Wanderers

On 1 August 2023, he completed a move to EFL League One side

on a one-year contract following a successful trial spell. He will initially link up with the clubs B team.

International career

In February 2019, Matheson made his international debut for the England under-17 team against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. On 11 October 2019, Matheson made his England U18 debut during a 5–2 win away to Poland.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheson, Luke 2002 births Living people People from Fallowfield Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Rochdale A.F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players