Third signing of the week for Luton as German U21 international midfielder joins on loan

Luton have signed defensive midfielder Tom Krauß on a season-long loan from Bundesliga side Mainz.

The 23-year-old, a product of the Red Bull Leipzig academy, given his senior debut by now German national manager Julian Nagelsmann back in 2020. He had a loan spell at 2. Bundesliga side FC Nürnberg in August 2020, before moving to Schalke in July 2022 where he played 33 times in the top flight of German football, scoring once.

Krauß then moved to Mainz for €5m in July 2023, as he featured 31 times last season, but the U21 international was deemed surplus to requirements at the VELTINS-Arena and has now agreed to move to Kenilworth Road for the 2024-25 campaign. With the midfielder himself determined to join Luton, Hatters boss Rob Edwards believes the deal shows just how far Town have come in recent seasons.

Although he won’t be fit to travel to Preston North End this weekend, Edwards told the club’s official website: “Once we knew there was an opportunity and an interest, we undertook a lot of work to look at Tom – and he’s shown he’s a player that suits Luton Town really, really well. He’s 23 but has a wealth of experience in the Bundesliga and is an under-21 international. He’s young but he’s hungry to find a home again. He’s at an age where he’s still got lots of room for growth.

“What we like about Tom is that he’s aggressive, full of running, wants to press, wants to play and wants to recover the ball quickly. We won’t get to see Tom straight away – he’s recovering having picked up a slight knock while in training with Mainz recently – but what’s been brilliant for us is how keen he is to join – he’s the one pushing it, he wants to play for us. That speaks volumes; how far we’ve come and our level of ambition, to take a player with so much experience of the German top-flight.”