Luton have kept the majority of their players from top flight campaign
The fact that Luton’s squad hasn’t been broken up following relegation from the Premier League has been just as important to Town boss Rob Edwards as the need to make new signings during the transfer window.
Although the Hatters couldn’t stay in the top flight last term, the added exposure that came from being involved in the highest tier of English football meant stars such as Carlton Morris, Elijah Adebayo, Teden Mengi, Thomas Kaminski and Tahith Chong, to name just five, could have been on the wanted list for a number of potential suitors who were hoping to tempt them with an immediate return to the Premier League.
Luton did understandably lose Ross Barkley to Aston Villa, but with three weeks to go before the deadline passes, they have managed to keep hold of all of their players, while adding former Brentford midfielder Shandon Baptiste to the senior squad, ex-Arsenal youngster Reuell Walters joining as an U21 too. Not losing any of his top performers has been absolutely critical to Edwards’ plans to win a second promotion in three years, as speaking to the press, he said: “That’s clearly part of our plan in terms of recruitment and the window.
“We did a lot of really hard work last season and I love the team that we became. We don’t want that to just break up now we’ve been relegated, that was never our plan. We have a really good way of doing things at this club. When we got relegated, we didn’t need to sell people, people didn’t need to lose jobs or anything like that, the club’s in a really good situation here. Our plan is to certainly try and keep that group together, to be really strong this season.”
Although the Hatters have kept the bulk of the squad that were involved in the Premier League together, with the the window closing on Friday, August 30, when Town are in action at QPR, there is still time for teams to swoop in at the eleventh hour and put what would be a huge spanner in the works. However, when interviewed on BBC Three Counties last night, a realistic Edwards vowed: “We can’t stop anyone bidding for our players because we just can’t do that, but we’ve always maintained the stance that we don’t have to sell anybody and I think we will maintain that.
“If we’re in a situation like that at the end, if we can’t then improve off the back of it, then I think it will be difficult for us to do anything and I think the lads understand and know that as well. We are in a very sound position as we’re well managed, so if that happens really late then we can’t control that as it’s not us making the bids. But I think the players understand that we’re in a strong position and unless we can use that money to improve then it would be difficult to allow that to happen.”
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