Hatters boss has to work out the best position for 'top character' Odoffin

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere was thrilled to welcome back a ‘top character’ in Hakeem Odoffin during the closing stages of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Port Vale, as he admits working out the best position for the summer signing will be his next move.

The 27-year-old has had the most stop-start debut campaign since arriving in Bedfordshire on a free transfer following his exit from fellow League One side Rotherham United, as the club discovering a non-musculoskeletal issue in his medical that required surgery and kept him out until the 1-0 victory at Northampton Town on October 25.

Odoffin then stayed in the match-day squad for the next five league games, starting twice against Huddersfield and Bolton Wanderers, before he missed the next three matches, returning to come on for the closing stages of the 4-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers on Boxing Day. He was sidelined once more for another two months after that Chairboys triumph, finally back in the squad at the weekend, getting the last 10 minutes plus stoppage time.

Now up to just nine appearances for the campaign, his cameo was one of the bright points of an instantly forgettable second half at Vale Park, taking over from Nigel Lonwijk as the right-sided centre half in Luton’s back three, with his organisational skills instantly on display, allowing the visitors to play ex-Town striker Andre Gray offside late on as he charged through looking for a winner.

Speaking about the boost his return will bring to a Luton side who are alarmingly low on confidence this season, Wilshere stated: “I’ve said it a lot about Haks, his energy just around the place, even when he’s injured, he’s a top character and someone who, his love for the game, it really shines through.

"It’s contagious as well and I think when he signed he was injured for a long time and probably he learned a lot about himself then and a lot about his feeling towards football because his energy is outstanding. He’s similar to Teds (Teden Mengi), he’s a similar profile, he’s quick, strong, can defend aggressively. You can leave a little bit of space behind as he has the pace to recover and deal with that, so good for me, good for the team and good for everyone that he’s back.”

With Mengi now expected to be out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his hamstring, then asked if Odoffin’s best role in the side could be as centre half to replace the former England U21 international, Wilshere added: “I think that’s an interesting conversation and I wouldn’t just want to put him in one position as I think about the Bolton game when we needed a slightly different way of attacking, he played as a right back and he was outstanding.

"He got up and down the pitch, won his duels, showed a few moments of quality. I would say I don’t actually know the answer to his question, if you asked him, he would say centre back I think, but I think he can play in a two as a centre back, in a three on the right side. He can play as a right back in a four, I think also he’s played for Rotherham as a midfielder, so we’ll keep working with him in a number of positions, but probably in the back-line somewhere.”