Luton recall prolific young striker from Colchester United

Luton have decided to recall young striker Joe Taylor from his loan spell at League Two side Colchester United.

The 21-year-old had been in terrific form for the U’s this term despite their struggles near the foot of the table, scoring 12 goals in all competitions, the first player to reach double figures before Christmas for the Essex club since ex-West Ham youngster Freddie Sears in the 2014-15 campaign. However, Taylor was absent from the club’s 2-2 draw at Swindon Town on Saturday amid rumours he was returning to Kenilworth Road, as Town have now exercised a break clause in the deal that was agreed between the clubs in August.

Speaking to the Colchester official website, sporting director Dmitri Halajko said: "Obviously, we would have loved to have kept him longer at the club, however with most loans the parent club has a call back option in January which Luton have exercised. It’s never easy to find a twenty goal a season striker and Joe will be a big miss for us, his goals and pace have made him one of the outstanding forwards in League Two this season. We wish Joe all the best for the rest of the season and thank him for his contribution to our club this season."

Writing on Twitter, Taylor, who played 27 times for United, wrote: “We’ll keep it short and sweet… thankyou for everything @ColU_Official.”

It is now more than likely that the striker, who has featured on six occasions for the Hatters, including the Championship play-off final victory over Coventry City, will spend the second half of the campaign out on loan once more as Luton boss Rob Edwards confirmed on Friday there was interest in him from clubs higher up the divisions. He said: “Joe’s had a successful spell, so understandably when someone’s on loan, a young player does well, especially a goalscorer, there’s always going to be a few rumours and things knocking about. There has been one or two other people enquiring about him, which again is understandable, but we’ll do what we feel is the right thing for him.

"We’ve got real high hopes for Joe and it’s good that he’s had a good first half of the season. We want that to carry on in his development because long term we see him being here with us.”