'Ambitious' Wilshere declares Luton are 'not done yet' in the transfer market
Town boss looking to add to his squad
‘Ambitious’ Hatters boss Jack Wilshere has declared Town are still ‘not done yet’ in the summer transfer window as he looks to put the finishing touches to a squad he believes will challenge for promotion to the Championship this term.
Following a seventh placed finish last season, missing out on the play-offs by a single point, Wilshere has been taking strides to improve the playing personnel at his disposal, which started with Zack Nelson, Cohen Bramall and Jacob Brown all being released at the end of their contracts. Crucially, star midfield duo Jordan Clark and Liam Walsh both then penned new deals, soon joined by Kasey Palmer, who agreed to join permanently after a superb loan spell from Hull City.
The trio have been joined by a handful of new additions thus far, including former Bolton Wanderers captain George Johnston, plus young Newcastle United full back Harrison Ashby, with Town shelling out an undisclosed fee to land young striker Callum Marshall on a long term deal from West Ham United last week.
Going the other way has seen the Hatters able to trim their numbers by selling Milli Alli to Charlton Athletic, while Christ Makosso joined French club Auxerre and Cauley Woodrow headed to third tier rivals Wycombe Wanderers, with youngsters Oli Lynch, Joe Gbode and Ethon Archer all departing on loan to get regular first team football as well.
Town still have until 11pm on Tuesday, September 1 to bolster their squad further and it’s something Wilshere clearly intends to do, as he said: “We’re not finished, we’re still active, we’re still looking, trying to improve the squad, improve the team. I don’t know if we’re close to anything out, we’re not close to anything coming in at the moment, however we’re looking. We know what we want, we know what we feel like we need to try and improve the team and we’re working."
With Town finishing the season incredibly strongly under Wilshere, winning nine from their last 11 matches, also lifting the Vertu Trophy when beating Stockport County 3-1 at Wembley, it led to a real feel-good factor, that had been sorely missing for much of the last two years, returning to Kenilworth Road. That appears to have carried on into the new season, Luton’s supporters once more having a genuine optimism about their chances under Wilshere, with the enjoyment of heading to watch their side both at home and on the road, now back too.
It’s something that the manager has been extremely eager to see flourish as he knows that keeping hold of key players and bringing in some exciting new additions has definitely helped with that, adding: “It’s really good, we need that connection. I sat down with the club and we spoke about that, we spoke about everyone being aligned, everyone being together, bringing the fans in to see so we can take energy from them, but they can see how we’re working, how committed the players are.
"I’ve always said that, I understand at times it was difficult last year, but we needed to improve that and I think a big thing to help that was how the team performed towards the end of last season, but then the club showing the ambition to go and sign Jordan Clark, Liam Walsh, Kasey Palmer again, who were really big parts of that. We wanted to take the next step as a team and to do that, they were really important because if it wasn’t them, we were going to have to go back and create an identity again probably.
"We worked really hard with that and we still have to improve that and as a coach or as players, we have to look for ways to evolve and improve, different ways of playing. The connection and the spirit within the group, but with the fans as well. I think the fans can see that, how committed the club are being to keep that together, what we created last year and now try to add to that with Marshall, with George and we’re not done yet.
"We’re still working really hard, we have been all summer, but we’re still working really hard with that to try and improve as want to be ambitious this year. It’s been a really good pre-season, but my message to the players was it’s not now the time to rest, but my message is still the same for everyone. We have to keep improving, keep trying to find ways to improve and that’s in recruitment as well.”