Luton working hard to make injured Burke more resilient as defender is ruled out of Canaries trip

Luton boss Rob Edwards is working hard to try and make defender Reece Burke more resilient after revealing the centre half will miss Saturday’s trip to Norwich City after picking up yet another injury.

The 28-year-old had been ruled out of Town’s opening two league games of the season with a problem that he picked up at the end of the Premier League campaign at former club West Ham, before starting six Championship games in a row, just one off his all-time record for the Hatters. He was then forced off against Watford with a groin issue, out for five games, before returning to start the 1-0 triumph over Hull at the weekend, where he was once more withdrawn in the second period.

Despite that, Burke was able to keep his place for the trip to Leeds United on Wednesday night but after feeling a quad injury early on at Elland Road, failed to reappear after the interval, Town going on to lose 3-0. With the ex-Hull player facing another spell out, it means injuries unfortunately continue to play a major role in his time at Luton, as since signing in June 2021, he has made 93 outings, with four goals too.

However, in the last three seasons, Burke has missed out on 41 squads from a possible 101, which means the Hatters are often out one of their best defenders. Asked if it is something he will just have to deal with during his career, Edwards said: “Burkey’s a no, we knew that coming off in the game, other than that, everyone’s okay.

“It’s a tough one to take that one. He’s a really key player for us and if he’s fit and available we want to be able to play him, but also he’s been out for a while, so trying to manage his game time and minutes is very, very challenging. Hopefully he’s not out for long, hopefully we caught it before it was anything serious but it is frustrating when you’ve got an important player like that and he’s unavailable, I want to be able to pick him.

“He is someone who gives absolutely 100 percent every day all of the time and he’s really committed to trying to improve and become more resilient. We’re trying to help him with that, work with him. It’s a really unfortunate situation because he’s keen to play, he’s desperate to do well for us and the team and when he’s fit and available we want him more often than not to be able to play as he can help, so it’s difficult.”

Discussing just why he had picked him for the contest in Yorkshire despite knowing there was a potential issue with his fitness, Edwards added: “We were aware going into it, the second game in a week that there’s a vulnerability there, but he helps us and he played so well when he was on the pitch in the Hull game that I wanted to go again.

"I felt it was the right thing. With Victor (Moses) giving us a little bit more attacking threat down that side, Burkey to give us that balance on the opposite side, you don’t need to tell him twice to get forward, he did for an opportunity in that first half, but defensively as well he can help because of the threats that they had going that way. So it’s frustrating, but he gives everything and he’s really committed to working hard on his body to try and become more resilient. We’re working on that with him, but it’s a difficult one.”