Wilshere could let Fanne leave as Town midfielder is linked with Italy move
Midfielder might be on his way in transfer window
Luton boss Jack Wilshere has admitted once again that he could be open to letting midfielder Lamine Fanne leave the club before Monday’s transfer deadline, confirming there has been plenty of interest in the Senegalese player.
Fanne had been a big part of Wilshere’s plans when the former England and Arsenal star took over back in October, named in every one of the new manager’s first 14 match-day League One squads, starting 11 of the fixtures, scoring once and adding two assists, also on target in the FA Cup win over Forest Green Rovers too.
Since the transfer window opened on New Year’s Day, there have been a number of rumours that the 21-year-old could be on his way out of Kenilworth Road, with reports from Sky Sports International reporter Gianluca Di Marzio yesterday linking him with a move to Italian Serie B side Venezia, who would then seemingly loan him to fellow second tier outfit Pescara.
Asked whether Fanne has suitors this month, speaking yesterday, Wilshere said: “There’s interest, of course there’s interest, because he’s a good player and there’s interest in a lot of our players. We want the best for us, but we also want the best for Lamine, so let’s see what happens. I’m open with Lamine, it depends also on what is available, right. Lamine is someone who I've spoken a lot about. When I first came in he helped me get my first win, he played in a role that really suited him.
“We changed the team a little bit, we went almost from a four two four when he was the guy on the last line being aggressive, to then a four plus one and we wanted two pocket players where he probably fits in between that sort of six and eight role and we only had one in Walshy (Liam Walsh) there. So he’s someone that I like, but he’s also at an age where he wants to play, he needs to play and we need to find the right solution for both.”
Fanne had missed out on the squad for the 2-2 draw against Lincoln recently, after Wilshere had publicly and internally criticised his efforts in the Verty Trophy match against Swindon Town. He was back in the match-day 18 that travelled to Plymouth Argyle and Huddersfield Town though, coming on for the final stages against the latter on Tuesday night but wasn’t included once more when Town defeated Blackpool yesterday.
That was purely down to a selection choice from Wilshere though, who added: “We spoke about Lamine after the Swindon game when he wasn’t in the squad and it’s nothing to do with that. His attitude has been spot on since then and he’s trained really well. Sav (George Saville) was left out of the squad last game and with Liam being ill I wanted to put Sav in because in my opinion he’s more of a six than Lamine.
"Kasey (Palmer) played there, but also knowing that Kasey needs to play more games in order to last more games, then I knew that we would need Sav at some point and we had Jake (Richards) as the option to come inside. So nothing really, he’s been training well and he’ll be training again Monday.”