Luton midfielder told by Bloomfield to fight for his place in the Hatters XI
Youngster has not been included in Town’s last three squads
Hatters midfielder Lamine Fanne has been told to fight for his place in the Town first team by manager Matt Bloomfield having been left out of the squad recently.
The 21-year-old came off the bench in the opening two games of the season before starting in the 2-1 defeat at Bradford City and the 1-0 loss to Coventry in the Carabao Cup first round. He was then among the substitutes when Luton beat Wigan Athletic 1-0 but hasn't been included in the match-day 18 for the past three league games, although did come on in the second half of the 4-1 Vertu Trophy success over Barnet.
There had been a number of rumours linking Fanne, who has played 18 times since arriving from Swedish side AIK in January, with a move away from Kenilworth Road in the summer transfer window, but after remaining in Bedfordshire, on how he goes about getting back into Bloomfield’s selection thoughts for the upcoming matches, the manager said: “Work hard, prove his point. He’s been out of the squad for a little while, he had an illness a few weeks ago, so he didn't train for a little while, he’s now back training.
“He played in the U21s yesterday (Tuesday), so keep training hard and try and force his way above players like Zack (Nelson) who we’ve seen come and have a really big imprint on the first team, Clicker’s (Jordan Clark) had a really big imprint on our season so far and we believe that he’s playing very, very well. George Saville has been excellent in the last few games that he’s been a single pivot, so that’s your competition, you've got to fight your way above it.”
It’s been a difficult start to the campaign for Fanne fitness-wise, as he missed almost the entire pre-season schedule due to a concussion injury he suffered almost on the very first day of the club’s warm weather training camp in Slovenia. That, coupled with another spell away from training recently has hindered his ability to really get going yet this term, as Bloomfield continued: “That’s another unfortunate thing for Lamine, the first game against Boreham Wood, (where he scored two goals), he was excellent and we were all very, very excited about the season.
“He then missed up until the start of the season, he then missed another few days through another illness, so he’s had a very stop-start season so far and one thing that I think Lamine needs is that continuity of training. We need to get him some minutes, he played in the U21s which is fantastic for him, he needs the continuity of minutes and learning the game as a midfield player and then it’s up to Lamine to force his way into the team.”
Asked just what berth in Luton’s formation would suit Fanne the most, Bloomfield added: “I think one of the two eights that we’re playing currently is probably the best position for him, with the energy to get up and down the pitch physically. I think he can add goals to his game as well, again, he’s a young player learning his game as we’ve alluded to earlier in the season.
“You can't have too many all at the same time maybe. Zack is occupying that spot and the competition with Clicker and Sav, but we want Lamine to become a big player for our football club. We’re trying to work with him and the opportunity’s there, the opportunity is there to force his way into the team.”