Long-serving Hatter tips teenage starlet to be a 'special player' for Luton
Richards enjoys excellent debut campaign at Kenilworth Road
Teenager starlet Jake Richards has been tipped to become a ‘special player’ for the Hatters by long-serving midfielder Jordan Clark.
The 18-year-old moved to Kenilworth Road for an undisclosed fee in the summer, agreeing to leave his hometown club of Exeter City following seven years with the Grecians, coming through the academy ranks in Devon. Having made his debut for the St James Park club on his 16th birthday back in August 2023, Richards made 12 appearances in total, including six outings in League One, during his maiden season as a professional.
Last term he featured 20 times for City, scoring his first goals in a 2-0 Vertu Trophy win over Tottenham Hotspur U21s and then opening his league account in the 3-1 success over Bristol Rovers. With his talent alerting the Hatters’ recruitment team, Richards moved to Luton in the summer, but was used sparingly by previous boss Matt Bloomfield during the early stages of the campaign, with just one league start, that coming in the manager’s final game in charge at Stevenage.
It wasn't until Wilshere took over in October that the midfielder really got his chance, going on to start a further 14 matches in the third tier, making 35 appearances in total in all competitions so far. He has also added five goals in that time as well, with three assists too, and crowned a successful move to Bedfordshire by being named as the SoLYD Young Player of the Season from the first team at the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust awards evening on Tuesday night.
Speaking about Richards recently, a clearly impressed Clark said: “When we’ve changed to back four and he’s been a winger, he’s got that quality and got that midfield instinct to come inside to the 10 position, and when you’ve got someone like Izzy Jones who can bomb up and down with his pace as well, it’s sort of the ideal scenario for him.
“Someone who’s an 18-year-old, the way he plays, he’s so mature and we know he’s got that quality. You could see it from the first day he came here when we were lucky to sign him that he's going to be a special player for Luton. Hopefully he stays here for five, six years, like myself, as I know he can do 150, 200 games easy. Hopefully he’ll be in the Championship next year for us as he’s got that. He’s strong as well for someone so young, he’s got such a bright future and hopefully we can keep him here for a long, long time.”
Richards has already experienced plenty of ups and downs during his time with the Hatters, with Town struggling to produce the kind of form supporters were demanding until recently, as one defeat in 13 has pushed them to the possibility of a play-off place should they beat Bolton Wanderers tomorrow and other results go their way. The club also enjoyed a Wembley victory when defeating Stockport County 3-1, Richards starting at the home of English football to lift some silverware for the first time in his career.
That led boss Wilshere, who earlier in the season revealed that the youngster was the player in Luton’s squad that most reminded him of himself, to say about his development with the Hatters so far: “I’m happy for Jake, Jake is developing, he’s growing, he’s delivering. For an 18-year-old to play the amount of games he has, but also to make a difference in the games, is really positive. His physical performances as well are amazing, we’re really happy with how Jake’s going, but we need to keep challenging him.
"Jake has been outstanding, he’s matured so much since I’ve been here by playing games and that really helps and accelerates that, but to play games you have to have the trust of the manager and the coaches and he certainly has that. He’s starting to add goals, you can see he’s always had quality, I’ve said it many times and in my opinion he has a really high ceiling. He’s got a lot of hard work to do and development to do, but he can play at a higher level and hopefully that will be with us.”