Edwards talks up Luton's squad strength despite not getting all his transfer targets
Boss more than happy with the options he has available to him at Kenilworth Road
Although he didn’t manage to sign all of his targets during the summer transfer Hatters boss Rob Edwards still believes he has an incredibly strong squad at his disposal for the Championship this term
After losing Ross Barkley, Sambi Lokonga, Chiedozie Ogbene, Andros Townsend and Gabe Osho from the squad that were in the top flight last term, also releasing the long-serving Luke Berry, Town managed to bring in six players, splashing out what is believed to be a club record fee on Mark McGuinness, also adding Reuell Walters, Tom Krauß, Shandon Baptiste, Liam Walsh and young midfielder Lamine Fanne, who will stay with parent club AIK until the Allsvenskan season finishes.
Experienced attacker Victor Moses arrived on a free transfer after the deadline had passed, as Town reportedly missed out on Norwich attacker Abu Kamara who they were rumoured to be after, the winger joining Hull City, plus Leicester forward Tom Cannon, who moved to Stoke City on loan, with Peterborough United chairman Darren MacAnthony stating the Hatters had also submitted a bid worth ‘millions’ for exciting talent Kwame Poku in the closing stages of the window, Posh rejecting the offer.
With Luton still having a place available, naming 24 players out of the 25 they have to register with the EFL, asked what he made of the club’s summer business, Edwards said: “I think we’re pretty happy. I don’t think you get everyone in that you go for, but overall it was a good window. You look at the squad now and people that are starting to come back and what we’ve got out there in training now, there’s some real strength out there, so overall I’m really pleased.”
With Luton now finally getting their players back from injury, Marvelous Nakamba available to start against Millwall on Saturday, as was Reece Burke, it means Town now have just Krauß, Daiki Hashioka and Jacob Brown absent as they continue to recover, although Baptiste also missed out on the weekend’s 1-0 success in east London too. Once they are all available, Edwards is confident Luton have a squad that can really look to achieve his aim of winning the league this term.
He added: “After training I just went and chatted with Kev Dearden (team operations manager), the lads were doing a bit of finishing and a bit of work going on, there’s still a few, Hashi and Browny to get fully fit, Tom Krauß, one or two others that are still not fully, fully match fit yet, but it’s a strong squad, there’s no doubt about that.
"There’s good strength in depth, we’ve got a good blend of youth and experience, people in between as well, at a good stage of their careers, so we like where we’re at. I do think we’re going to get better, I did say that from early on. It’s proven to be quite a challenge in pre-season and the opening part of the season, but my job is then along with the staff and the players to make sure we stay consistent.
"Keep doing what we believe in, try and always improve, look at areas we know we can get better in and working on the areas that we’re doing well in as well. So I do feel that we’re in a good place and when those results come and back it up, maybe everyone will believe in that as well. We really believe in the group that we’ve got, I think we’ve got a really, really, really strong squad, I really do, and it’s up to us to go and show that now.”