Luke Williams became Middlesbrough's youngest player in more than a century when he made his debut for his hometown club in 2009 aged just 16 years and 200 days. He was handed a professional contract at the end of that season and gradually began to feature more often for the first team. In the 2012/13 season he made 14 appearances, scoring twice, but was used less often in the season that followed as the Riverside club initially struggled in the Championship before recovering under new boss Aitor Karanka. Pools manager Colin Cooper noted his relative lack of games at Boro and acted to bring the England under-20 striker to the Vic for a one month loan deal in January 2014. The talented midfielder made a big impression during his brief time at the Vic. He played all seven games for which he was available, scoring twice. His performances were of sufficient quality that Middlesbrough refused the club's request to acquire his services for an additional month, and Williams returned to the Riverside to compete for a first team place. Williams left Middlesbrough to sign for Scunthorpe United in 2015, and scored five times in 32 appearances in his first season for the Lincolnshire club. That was as good as it got for a while as the midfielder endured some tough years that saw his playing time severely restricted by injury. He signed for a second spell at the Vic in the summer of 2019, but made just four substitute appearances in two seasons. With a less talented player, the club may well have cut its losses at that point, but Williams was encouraged to continue to train with Pools in the hope of securing a new contract, and his hard work was rewarded with a new deal in October 2020. Fitness, and perhaps the player's confidence in that fitness, remained an issue. Williams did manage to get on the pitch, and made a first team start in a league win against Woking. But he remained a peripheral member of the side, which was a shame for a clearly talented player, He was released in the summer of 2021 with Pools having won promotion back to the EFL.