Luton chief won't comment on speculation that Town want to sign U's forward
Tovide has been linked with a move to Kenilworth Road
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield wasn’t about to comment on the rumours he was looking to sign Colchester United forward Samson Tovide although did admit he could look to strengthen the Hatters’ attacking areas in the final weeks of the summer transfer window.
The 21-year-old is well known to Bloomfield, as he was part of the U’s squad when Town’s manager was in charge at the JobServe Community Stadium between September 2022 and February 2023. Having made his debut when aged just 16 during the 6-1 Football League Trophy win over Southend United in November 2020, Tovide then made 11 League Two starts under the former Wycombe Wanderers midfielder, netting a first senior goal in the 3-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers.
Tovide continued to feature for the U’s once Bloomfield departed, scoring five times in 26 matches in the 2023-24 season, while he managed seven goals last term, as Colchester finished 10th in the fourth tier, making it 14 goals in 101 outings for the club. He is now a reported target for Luton though, but Bloomfield said: “What I will say about Samson is obviously he was a young player that we had at Colchester, someone I think a lot of, but it’s the boring line, I won’t comment on other people’s players. That’s not what I’m here to do. He’s Colchester’s player, so I feel like it’s really disrespectful to be talking about other people’s players.”
After U’s boss Danny Cowley stated a move away for Tovide was a ‘great opportunity’, when discussing the forward’s future on BBC Essex this week, he said: “Well, we definitely hope so (that he stays). Honestly it’s been brilliant every day to be able to wake up and know that you’re working, not just with a player like Samson, but a person like Samson. He’s a great kid, he’s got a heart of gold. He’s a fierce, fierce competitor, he’s a lion, but he’s a lovely boy who just wants to do better and wants to improve.
“Of course there’s a lot of interest in Samson and that's to be expected. He’s such a handful, so from a selfish point of view, we really hope that we can keep him. We also understand and have to try and make the best decision for the football club. I can promise you this, if he does go, and at some point he will go as he’s destined to play at the top in my opinion, but when he does go the club will be very well remunerated.”
With Luton only scoring 45 league goals in 46 matches last term, and drawing eight blanks once Bloomfield took over in January, he has made moves to rectify that by bringing in the proven striking duo of Jerry Yates from Swansea City and ex-Bristol City striker Nahki Wells. That comes on the back of losing their top scorer for three successive seasons in Carlton Morris, with Thelo Aasgaard heading north of the border to join Rangers too, injuries also restricting Town’s options in the final third, with Izzy Jones, Elijah Adebayo and Jacob Brown all missing.
After struggling to defeat AFC Wimbledon 1-0 on Friday evening, Town needing an own goal to see off the Dons, the boss continued: “We lost Carlton over the summer, we’ve lost Eli to his injury, Browny’s been injured, we’ve lost Thelo. We’ve lost a lot of goals and attacking threat out of the group that we had at the end of last season and I think that also needs to be recognised, in a team that didn’t score enough last year, so it’s going to take a bit of time.
"We’re going to have to show a bit of patience, but I’m not one who’s very patient, I want to get there right now. By the time we come out of the window, we want to be as strong as we possibly can be. We’re solid at the back, I believe we’ve got some good options there, midfield, we’ve strengthened and we’re happy with it. We’ve just gone and signed Jerry, we’ve brought Nahki in, but we have lost goals out of the building and we’ll keep an open mind. If the right opportunity presents itself and everything’s right, we’ll look to execute that as well.”