Jones back for Leeds clash as Luton could 'possibly' include England U21 international
Mengi has a chance of being involved at the weekend
Fit-again defender Teden Mengi has a possibility of being involved in the Hatters’ match-day squad for the first time in four months when Luton entertain Leeds United at Kenilworth Road tomorrow, while boss Matt Bloomfield has confirmed that wingback Izzy Jones is fit to face the title-challengers.
The 22-year-old has been absent since the 4-2 defeat at Norwich City on November 30 after suffering a serious knee injury which required surgery. However, he has now completed his rehabilitation and was back in training with the first team squad this week, meaning Bloomfield faces a decision over whether to include him in the 18 that he selects to take on the Whites in tomorrow’s 12.30pm kick-off.
He said: “Teden has been in training all week with the group which is fantastic. He’s another big player for our football club that we’re welcoming back and we’re looking forward to having back in the fold. Possibly (he will be included), possibly not. We’ve got to be really careful with Teden that we look after him. It’s been four months so we have to make sure that he’s ready.
"He’s a massive player for this football club and we’ve had it a number of times with Burkey (Reece Burke) and Chongy (Tahith Chong), these guys returning from longer injuries, making sure we look after them in their reintegration to the group and the team. So Teden’s back, in and around it and he’s right in the forefront of my mind. As soon as he’s ready to contribute he’ll be there to do so.”
With Mengi, who has played 50 times for the club since arriving from Manchester United last season, being a centre half, then Bloomfield did admit that getting him minutes to ease him back into the cut and thrust of the Championship is much harder than if he played further upfield. He continued: “Yes, it absolutely is.
"For the forwards you can bring them on for 10 minutes, 20, 30, 45 as we saw with Chongy last week. With the defenders it’s a little bit harder to do so as most games you don’t try and move around your defensive unit, you try and move it as little as possible. So it’s a fine balance to make with Teden. He’s trained really well this week, really, really well. He’s worked incredibly hard in the time he’s been out of the team and we’ll have to make sure we choose the right time to integrate him back into the group.”
Although Mengi is now fit, the England U21 international faces a battle to regain his place in a back three of Christ Makosso, Mark McGuinness and Amari’i Bell who have started the last three games, conceding just one goal in that time. He also has Reece Burke and Kal Naismith waiting in the wings too, as Bloomfield said: “I think you want a little bit of consistency in that defensive unit.
"We spoke a few weeks ago about Thomas (Kaminski) and about a number of different personnel in front of him. We wanted to have a little bit of a settled group in front of him, which he has, but they also know we’ve got Kal, we’ve got Burkey, we’ve got Teden, we’ve got some proper players trying to get back in the team which keeps everyone on edge and hopefully keeps performance levels high.”
Mengi is one of two players who are in Bloomfield’s thoughts with January signing Jones also available after suffering a slight problem when away on international duty with Guyana. He had to sit out the 1-0 win at Hull City on Saturday, ending his run of seven successive starts, but is now all okay, as Bloomfield stated: “Izzy is fine, he’s trained all week which is fantastic. He came back from Guyana with a slight issue which meant he was unable to play at Hull last week but he’s trained all week and he’s looking in a lot better shape than he did last week.”
Finally, defender Daiki Hashioka is another player who could be called on should Bloomfield need him, the Japanese international not featuring since the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday on February 1. The boss added: “He’s been available for a couple of weeks. We took everyone up to Hull last week to keep everyone in and around it. We had Izzy’s late call, Hashi was one of them and Mads Andersen, so those boys are training and training hard and chomping at the bit to get back in.”