Knee injury ends on-loan Reds winger's frustrating loan spell at Luton

Luton’s on-loan Nottingham Forest winger Josh Bowler won’t play for the Hatters again this season due to a knee injury ending has been a frustrating stint at Kenilworth Road.

The 26-year-old was brought in by Town back as one of a number of new additions in January, having spent the first half of the campaign at Championship rivals Preston North End, where he made just six starts for the Lilywhites, disappointed by his lack of first team action. Bowler, who had cost the Reds just over £2m when signing from Blackpool in September 2022, was brought in by Bloomfield specifically to play in one of the wide attacking roles in a 4-3-3 formation, as talking to the official site when joining, spoke of finally being able to flourish in his ‘favourite position’.

He made his debut when coming off the bench in the 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday, but Town quickly changed to a 3-5-2 formation following that game, which meant Bowler was in a similar predicament to the one he had been in at Deepdale. Although named in the match-day squad for the next 12 games, coming on in eight of them, the attacker was limited to 143 minutes of second tier action in total, then missing out for the 1-0 win at Derby County.

Absent for the matches with Bristol City and Coventry City as well, Bloomfield confirmed this afternoon that he was out of tomorrow’s trip to West Bromwich Albion as well, saying: “He had a little issue with his knee the day before Derby in training the day before the game, so he won’t be involved tomorrow which has been disappointing.

"His loan spell hasn’t been as, he hasn’t been on the pitch as much as I intended when I signed him. There’s been a change in formation in there and some other bits and pieces to consider. I think he’s a very, very good player Josh and a great lad, a really good lad. He’s been a pleasure to have around and I’m sorry his season has finished with us. It’s not a bad injury, just a little knock but he won’t be available tomorrow.”

Although he hasn’t had the kind of impact that the other January signings such as Christ Makosso, Izzy Jones, Thelo Aasgaard, Milli Alli and Kal Naismith have all had, there were flashes from the former Everton youngster when called upon. It was his shot that deflected perfectly into the path of Aasgaard to score a late winner against Cardiff City, while he was also involved in the build-up for Alli’s stoppage time leveller at Stoke City. Bloomfield added: “Stoke he was very good, Cardiff he was very good, he’s been involved in some big goals for us, so he’s definitely had an input.

"It’s more my side the amount I’ve put him on the pitch and I felt like I needed to discuss it and say that wasn’t the intention when he came here. I wanted him on the pitch more but the way the season played out, with the change in formation, it didn’t suit him as much. So it’s more an in-game change, but he’s been involved. The Stoke game when he came on he was very, very good, Cardiff away when he had the shot that led to Thelo’s goal, so there have been some big moments in there that he’s been able to contribute and we thank him for that.”