Bloomfield expects to name England U21 international in his squad despite long-term knee injury

Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield is expected to name long-term absentee Teden Mengi in his 25-man squad for the second half of the Championship season.

The 22-year-old hasn’t featured since the 4-2 defeat at Norwich City on November 30, as after playing on with a knee problem that flared up at the back end of the Premier League campaign, he eventually suffered an injury to his meniscus in training which meant he couldn’t continue any longer, having to go under the surgeon’s knife for an operation to repair the issue.

With Mengi, who has played 15 times this term, not due to return any time soon, and with under four months of the season to go, there was a possibility that the centre half could miss out on being included in the squad meaning Bloomfield could boost his defensive options during the final two weeks of the transfer window.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case, with the new manager looking to keep the England U21 international as an option, as speaking this afternoon, when asked if Mengi would be selected or not, he said: “He’s a big player for the football club so I think we want to keep him in there if we possibly can, even if it’s for the last however long of the season.

"I think it’s important we give him the opportunity to play if we can do. There’ll be lots of conversions in the next 10 days, two weeks before the window closes about what we do with the squad places, but I would envisage that we absolutely keep him available and when he’s ready to play, he’s a big player for us.”

Asked when he thought the former Manchester United defender might have a chance of being available once more for the Hatters, Bloomfield added: “I don’t think it will be the full season (that he’s out for), but again, it will be a little while. I don’t envisage having him on the pitch any time soon, so it will still be a little while yet. There’s not a huge amount of time left in the season, so if we can use him at all that will be great, but it’s not imminent or any time soon.”