Mpanzu won't be ready for Luton's opening trip to Canaries

Town midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu won’t be featuring in tonight’s opening pre-season friendly for Luton as he continues to recover from the knee injury that ended his campaign early last term.

The 28-year-old missed the final seven games after hurting himself in the 2-0 defeat at Huddersfield, including both legs of the play-off semi-finals as the Hatters were edged out by the Terriers 2-1 on aggregate.

With Luton kicking off their warm up schedule at their Southern League Premier Division Central side Hitchin Town front of over 1,500 supporters, the match now sold out, then Mpanzu will having a watching brief, although boss Nathan Jones will welcome back a number of players who were also absent at the end of last season, plus new signings Cauley Woodrow, Alfie Doughty and Matt Macey.

He said: “We’re still missing Pelly and still missing Glen (Rea) and James Shea.

“Pelly will be back sooner than the other two, but the others are almost fully fit.

“It’s good to have Gabe (Osho), Elijah (Adebayo), Fred (Onyedinma) and Luke Berry back, from the last two or three months of the season, it’s like signing new players anyway.

“We were in such a good place then and we’ve improved, so hopefully the future’s bright.

“We’ve been back five or six days, its been very good.

"The lads have come back in good shape which we expected them to anyway.

"It’s only been a short break, they’ve had a good rest, we’ve come back, we’ve started, we’ve managed to add a few bodies as well, and those who had a year with us now will be better for that.”

Town’s two players who were in international action over the summer, Allan Campbell and Amari'i Bell, aren’t expected to be turning out at Top Field either following their exerts for Scotland and Jamaica in recent weeks.

Jones continued: “They’ll be back with us on Friday.

“We’ve given those an extra week off.

"It’s only sensible because if they come back too early then you’re looking at exposing them to injury or fatigue, which they don’t need to do.

“Both of them are tireless workers anyway and very proud of their countries.

"Amari’i always wants to play for his country, whether that’s because he’s a real proud Jamaican or he fancies a different training environment, I don’t know.

"But he’s done superb for us and I’m very proud of him.”

When Town visited Hitchin last season, they ran out 7-0 winners, Jordan Clark scoring four, with James Bree, Elliot Lee and Carlos Mendes Gomes on target.

Jones knows it is good way to kick things off before they head to Slovenia for a warm weather training camp, adding: “We have a good relationship with Hitchin and we always like going there.

"There’s obviously a lot of Luton fans living in Hitchin as well so it kicks off our pre-season nicely as we travel away to Slovenia the day after.

"It’s always a nice fixture, local, good for both clubs, two good clubs that are closely aligned and work together so we’re looking forward to the game.”