Luton's on-loan Hull midfielder has no idea where his future lies
Palmer reiterates a desire to join Luton on a permanent basis
Luton's on-loan midfielder Kasey Palmer conceded he has no idea just where he will end up playing next season, although admitted once more he would love it to be at Kenilworth Road on a permanent basis.
The 29-year-old has been an absolute star since arriving in Bedfordshire from the MKM Stadium in January, as immediately becoming a first team regular, he then opened his account in style when scoring a brilliant goal against Doncaster Rovers on his 12th appearance, firing in from the edge of the box. Since then, Palmer has gone on to enjoy the most prolific campaign of his career, with eight goals in 11 matches, including the winner against Barnsley on Saturday, sidefooting into the roof of the net from Mads Andersen’s knock-down.
When celebrating several of his goals, the Jamaican international has intimated he wants to remain in Bedfordshire, a feeling that is wholeheartedly reciprocated by Luton’s supporters too. They made it abundantly clear exactly what they want to see happen once more at the weekend, serenading him with chants of ‘sign him up’ and ‘Kasey Palmer, we want you to stay,’ during and after the contest with the Tykes, with manager Jack Wilshere insisting last week that winning promotion might not necessarily decide if those wishes are to come true.
Asked if he has experienced such a reception from supporters before, and for the latest on his future, then the midfielder, who still has another year left on his contract with the Tigers, told the club’s official website: “It’s similar to Coventry a little bit, but it’s probably a bit more here. It could be the last game I don’t know, I’ll have to see what happens in the summer. Hopefully not, hopefully I’m here next year, but I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen!”
The adulation that Palmer is receiving could well play a significant role in choosing his next destination if Hull decide they want to sell a player who they snapped up from Coventry for an undisclosed fee in August 2024, playing 37 times in his 18 months on Humberside, with just 15 starts in that time. Asked about that very fact, boss Wilshere continued: “Kasey loves it, he’s that type of player who when we’re away from home, he wants the fans to boo him, when we’re at home, he wants the fans to love him and he responds really well to that.
"The fans love him and rightly so as he’s had his most prolific season as a player. Everyone knows his quality on the ball and his ability to open up a defence with a pass or a dribble through midfield, but adding goals, probably when we brought him here, we didn’t expect him to score this many goals. It adds a different dynamic to his game. I don’t think he was at his best, but he’s a big moment player and he came up with a really, really important goal for us.”
With Palmer now notching for the fourth time in three matches, having netted a brace during Tuesday night’s 2-0 success at Rotherham United, then questioned about his new-found knack of arriving in the box, as his previous eight goals took him 110 matches to score, he said: “To be fair I was bad until the goal today, so Jack was giving me some grief, but at the minute every time I get in the box it seems to drop at the right time and I’m buzzing.
"It feels like everything is going for me at the minute. In the group when they score, we feel like we’re going to get another chance. We’re not playing great, but everything’s just going for us. There was a spell when I first came, little things weren’t going for us and the ball didn’t drop, but at the minute we feel like we're constantly going to be a threat and we're going to get goals.”
Town now go to Bolton Wanderers at the weekend for their final game of the regular season, knowing that a win could be enough to reach the play-offs as long as other results go their way. With no Luton fan wanting it to be the last time they see Palmer running out in an orange shirt, then on the contest, he added: “Everyone’s buzzing. We don't want to talk too much about other teams, other results, as we know we need to win and if we win then it puts pressure on other teams. We’ve done that so hopefully next week we win again, someone else slips up, and we reach the play-offs.”