Lucas Herrington has made an extraordinarily rapid rise from Brisbane Roar and the Colorado Rapids to Hull City in the Premier League. Just 18 years old, the Australian defender is already turning heads in England’s top flight after sealing a transfer on a five-year deal.
If you spend half an hour listening to Lucas Herrington speak, you get the feeling a firecracker could go off next to him and barely an eyebrow would be raised. This is one calm and collected character. His footballing journey is now a well-documented one, but no less remarkable to reflect upon as the whirlwind weeks fly by.
The Brisbane boy has gone from the A-League to the Premier League in just 21 months via a FIFA World Cup. That just doesn’t happen, except it did. While Herrington realizes the abnormality of his footballing story to date, he is the one who must normalise it to ensure the trajectory doesn’t plateau.
From MLS to Hull City and the Premier League Stage
Herrington arrived in Yorkshire after jetted in from Major League Soccer side Colorado Rapids on a five-year deal reportedly worth a substantial fee, making him one of the most expensive Socceroos and Australian teenagers of all time, alongside the most lucrative deal ever made for an MLS defender.
On the opening day of the Premier League season, with just over an hour gone in Hull City’s clash with Manchester United, Herrington got up off the bench. With the Tigers 2-0 up, manager Sergej Jakirović turned to the 18-year-old Australian to replace injured goalscorer Nobel Mendy.
He has since come off the bench in both of Hull’s opening matches and started the League Cup penalty shootout win against Stoke, showcasing strong confidence from the coaching staff.
Advice From Zlatan Ibrahimović and the Erling Haaland Challenge
Life in the English top flight brings immediate tests against world-class opposition. Herrington is eagerly anticipating facing some of the best strikers in the world, pointing specifically to Manchester City’s talisman Erling Haaland.
“It’s pretty hard to look past him when it comes to strikers.”
The young defender also received a morale-boosting phone call from Zlatan Ibrahimović following Herrington’s missed penalty during a World Cup shootout against Egypt.
“He said, ‘really, don’t fear anyone; I’m here for a reason, so just go enjoy it’. It’s a great league; he played in it. His message was just to go have fun, and don’t fear anything. Go, work hard, be yourself … because it’s a great experience to play in the Premier League.”
Settling Into Yorkshire Life Ahead of the Aston Villa Clash
Off the pitch, Herrington finds himself navigating the unfamiliar reality of being recognized and stopped for photos on the streets of Hull. He has secured a car nice enough to fit in a Premier League car park while making adjustments alongside his mother, who traveled to England to help him settle.
Herrington has spent some quality time exploring the surrounding areas of Hull with his mother, which he says has been really nice.
Herrington turns 19 this weekend, an occasion he will mark with a visit from Aston Villa at the MKM Stadium, hoping for three points before his mother heads back to Brisbane.
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