Luton boss hasn't made any promises to Wycombe about not returning for Chairboys stars in transfer window
Town have been linked with leading scoring Kone
New Luton manager Matt Bloomfield hasn’t given any assurances to his former club Wycombe Wanderers that he won’t return to snap up any of their brightest talents during the January transfer window.
The 40-year-old opted to leave a Chairboys side whom he had led to second place in League One last week to move to Kenilworth Road, swapping his promotion push for what is now clearly a relegation battle to stay in the Championship. With Wycombe carrying on their merry way despite his departure, winning 2-1 at Mansfield on Saturday, earning a ninth away victory of the campaign under the joint efforts of development coaches Sam Grace, Harry Hudson, Matty Dye and Jerome John, it saw forward Richard Kone on target once more, netting his 17th goal of what is an increasingly impressive debut campaign in the Football League.
The 21-year-old only joined Wanderers in January 2024, signing from Essex Senior League side Athletic Newham and after scoring four times in 21 matches during his debut campaign, is now up to 21 goals in 56 outings overall. Although he extended his contract with Wycombe back in November, Kone was linked with a move to the Hatters when former boss Rob Edwards was in charge, although nothing has materialised yet.
Now the ex-Wales international has been replaced by Bloomfield, who brought him to Wycombe 12 months ago, then asked if he had held any chats with his former employers about not swooping for any of his former players prior to leaving, he said: “It’s not something I’ve discussed or we’ve discussed. Obviously we were really pleased with the group we had there, there are some very, very good footballers, but it’s not something I’ve thought about or discussed or looked into, so it’s not something I can comment on.”
With the transfer window closing two weeks today, Luton do have some space to work with in their 25-man squad, experienced defender Erik Pieters leaving the club on Sunday to free up a spare spot for a possible incoming. Having brought in Middlesbrough winger Isaiah Jones and young defender Christ Makosso, Town chief executive Gary Sweet has talked about being ‘aggressive’ during the window as they bid to avoid dropping into the third tier.
Although Bloomfield hasn’t had too long to assess the squad, he intimated he was looking to bolster his playing personnel, continuing: “The group’s carrying injuries and we haven’t scored as many goals from open play as we would have wanted to do this season. You look to maybe where we can improve and try and complement the group, but I have to make sure that I’m very respectful to the boys who have gone out and trained this week and played today. They’ve been fantastic in their work for us, so we have to get the balance right. There’s a recruitment team that’s been working for a long time, since before I got here, they’ve obviously had their targets in mind and we’re aligned in that, but if there’s any business we can do, we’ll look to do it.”
With Bloomfield having taken over six days ago, and needing to prepare for a three game week, Town heading to Oxford United tomorrow night and then entertaining Millwall on Saturday, on how much focus he will be able to give to the player recruitment team in that time, he added: “It’s a working relationship, they’ve already got things in the background that they’ve been working on for the last year, two years, three years, as you do with different targets, they take different lengths of time.
"As we saw with Izzy coming into the building last week, the football club is already working in the background and that won’t change. There will be a working relationship, those guys will bring targets and we’ll work together on that, but it is reciprocal, it is a working relationship. There’s lots for me to do and everyone will need to contribute at this important time for us.”