Luke Lyons wants to kick-start his career at Airdrie after an injury nightmare that kept him sidelined for almost three years.
The 20-year-old signed for the Diamonds following a successful trial after Ian Murray had received a glowing recommendation.
Lyons progressed through the ranks at Leeds United before suffering serious injuries that seriously stalled his development.
The former Scotland youth international admits it was an incredibly difficult time but he praised the English giants for supporting him through his recovery.
“It’s the hardest thing in football,” Lyons admitted. “You are watching everyone else train everyday, playing games and you are just sitting in the physio room.
“I had a stress fracture in my shin but because I was young - I was only 17 - they couldn’t find a way to fix it without just waiting.
“Then when they finally thought that they’d fixed it, the injury came back again so I needed surgery.
“It took me around 18 months to recover from that and then I ended up tearing all three ligaments in my ankle so I needed surgery again.
“It’s happened at the time in your career where you really learn stuff. You really start playing games and you start learning about professional football - it was a really tough time.
“I was at Leeds from ten and I can’t fault them at all during my injury troubles. They stuck by me and helped me get back fit - it’s a great football club.
“It’s top notch for developing players and you can see how many first-team players came through the academy.”
Lyons moved to Bradford PA but his return from injury was disrupted by the pandemic as the Conference North was cancelled.
The centre-back said: “I was on trial for around two weeks so I was happy just to get the deal finalised.
At the start of last season, I just went out to play in the Conference and I played a couple of games but then the season got called off with Covid.
“It put a complete stop to it and it was frustrating. I went into Hull under-23’s but there was no chance of me signing there, I was just in there to train and keep fit.
“Ian’s friend is the head of recruitment at Hull and he ended up giving me a strong recommendation so I came up to Airdrie.
“I just want to enjoy playing football again and being around a team environment. I want to get up to speed as fast as I can and that will happen with training.”
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