Luton boss Rob Edwards is doing his best to strengthen his squad ahead of Monday night’s Championship opener against Burnley during what he labelled as a ‘challenging’ transfer window
The Hatters chief has been able to bring in two new faces so far, former Brentford and Oxford midfielder Shandon Baptiste on a free transfer, along with ex-Arsenal youngster Reuell Walters too. With rumours persisting that forwards John McAtee and Joe Taylor could be leaving the club, either on loan or permanently, in the coming weeks, then it leaves as many as four spaces available in Luton’s 25-man squad should Edwards wish to use them.
He is definitely looking to do so, although whether that will happen in time to face the Clarets, he said: “We’re working on it. I can’t promise anything as I know I’ve said after the last couple of games that we’re hoping to get someone in over the next week or two. It’s difficult, I’m being really well backed by the way, I’m not blaming anyone, we’re really trying hard, but it’s a challenging window at the minute.”
With Town having had their coffers swelled by a season in the Premier League, and now receiving parachute payments following their relegation back to the second tier, asked if he thought that was proving something of a hindrance to Luton’s efforts to bring players in, with other teams upping their prices over potential targets, Edwards continued: “It could be an element of that, because again, we want players to want to come here as well to be part of Luton Town.
“They’re going to be well paid, but it’s not going to be what some might get at other places. We want them to come to be part of what we want to do and help us achieve success as well, so there’s elements from every party involved in any one of these deals. They’ve got to want to come and we will then try and make it happen, but we’re not going to pay millions over the odds for people because we’ve had a year in the Premier League either, so it’s a fine balance.”
Although Luton won’t be splashing out any inflated amounts of money, Edwards was quick to praise Town’s board for the financial support they are giving him to mount another crack at reaching the promised land, adding: “I can’t ask for anything more than what we’re getting at the moment. We’re trying really hard and Gary (Sweet, CEO) and the board are really trying to back us as well, they’re working extremely hard to get things done.
“I know there are deals that are going on out there and we’ve still got a couple in. We’re delighted with Shandon and Reuell, I know they’re maybe lower key ones and they’re not huge fees, but they’re really good players who can help us this season. I think people have got to believe in how we do things this season as our recruitment over a long period of time has been very good and that will continue to be the case.
“I’m sure about that as we’ve got a brilliant team that work very, very hard to make sure they bring in good players for us to look at and improve the group. I just think across the board it is quieter in football at the moment. Maybe that’s because of the Euros and not loads happening in the Premier League right now which makes things filter down a little bit to us. There’ll be loads of reasons, but we are trying hard to do one or two.”
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