It’s easy to forget Birmingham City veteran’s Plymouth Argyle stint | OneFootball

Lukas Jutkiewicz failed to make an impact during his brief time at Home Park

When you think of Lukas Jutkiewicz, it is hard not to imagine him in the blue of Birmingham City, such is the striker’s affinity with the St Andrew’s side over the past eight years.

Since joining in August 2016, the frontman has racked up over 300 appearances for Blues, with 68 goals coming his way in that time, and continues to do so at the age of 35 in League One.

After being on the books at Everton in his younger days, the target man bandied about a number of clubs in England and Scotland before making the Midlands his permanent base, with the likes of Huddersfield Town, Motherwell and Middlesbrough all past destinations during his career.

One stop along the way that is largely forgotten is a five-game spell at Plymouth Argyle as he was cutting his teeth in the men’s game, being just 18 years old and eager to impress.

Paul Sturrock reunion lures Lukas Jutkiewicz to Plymouth Argyle

Before being on Merseyside, Jutkiewicz had started out in the Southampton academy and then spent time at Swindon Town in his early days, where he was managed by Argyle’s legendary manager Paul Sturrock.

Such was his promise as a teen at the County Ground that the Toffees forked out a reported £1 million for him at the time, having impressed in League One at the age of 17 with five goals in his 37 appearances for the Robins.

Six months later and Sturrock was back at Home Park following the departure of Ian Holloway, and Jutkiewicz is the first name he called upon in the January transfer window, with the striker signing on the dotted line the second Auld Lang Syne was belted out, as he made his debut for the Greens later that day at Cardiff City.

Coming on as a late substitute as Argyle were chasing the game, the teenager struggled to make an impact in his first minutes of Championship football, and that pattern would continue throughout his time in Devon.

Lukas Jutkiewicz fails to make Plymouth Argyle impact

Having been rushed into matters right from the off, there was no time for Jutkiewicz to rest on his laurels, with an FA Cup clash with Hull City just around the corner, where once again he came off the bench in the dying minutes, with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake making way.

A first start soon came in a trip to Turf Moor to face Burnley - with current Argyle striker Andre Gray playing for the hosts at the time - but even then, the Everton loanee was struggling to impose himself in the second tier.

With the likes of Ebanks-Blake, Rory Fallon, and Jermaine Easter all vying for a spot up top at that time, the young star was soon pushed to the periphery, with minutes proving harder and harder to come by the longer he stayed in Devon.

Two more goalless substitute appearances within his first month as an Argyle player came and went, before he was never seen again, with Sturrock sticking to the tried and tested options in the final third, rather than give minutes to the loanee waiting in the wings.

After returning to Merseyside before the season came to a close, it would take a while before the big man established himself as a valuable asset in the game, with a productive spell at Motherwell the kick-start to what was to come in his career, with 12 goals in 33 games the making of the young star at the time.

16 years on and the attacker is still plying his trade for a Blues side looking to bounce back to the Championship at the first time of asking, with that spell at Home Park firmly forgotten about, and with over 600 appearances during his playing days, those are likely to be five of the least memorable of his entire career.