Wilshere insists Mengi needs time to deal with Town exit failing to materialise

Hatters chief Jack Wilshere believes centre half Teden Mengi will need a period of time to get his head around the fact that his move away from Kenilworth Road didn’t materialise, as he will now attempt to fight for a place in the first team once more.

The 24-year-old was one of five players who were told by Wilshere that they could look for new employers over the summer, with Lasse Nordas joining Jerry Yates and Thomas Holmes in heading to pastures new this afternoon when he signed a loan deal with Polish Ekstraklasa side KS Cracovia for the rest of the season.

However, when the window closed for domestic business on Tuesday at 11pm, then ex-Manchester United youngster Mengi, who had been a first team regular under Wilshere last term, until suffering a serious hamstring injury against Plymouth Argyle in the Vertu Trophy back in February, found himself staying put for now at least.

Asked about his situation and if he would be in contention to play again, Wilshere said: “Teds is here. Teds was slightly different, we knew that, me and Teds had a conversation at the end of last season and I thought that it would be best for him to move on, but also with the understanding that he’d be with the group in pre-season, he’d be training.

"He obviously had a little bit of an injury last season, but came back really well, completed pre-season really well, but it didn’t quite happen for him. So he’s training with the group, he trained today and he’s available for selection. I think he needs some time now to train and be clear with that, get his head straight with that, because he has been with the group in pre-season, it will be easier to do that.

"It’s not as if he’s come in completely from the cold, where he wasn’t with the group. He’s been with the group, he probably needs a little bit of time to get his head around that, but he’ll be fine. I know Teds and Teds was really important for me last year when I first came in. I thought he was excellent, he picked up an injury at a bad time, but he’ll be fine.”

Although teams in England can’t now buy players until January, they can still sell them as there are still some countries where the transfer window is open, including Saudi Arabia, Romania, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Cyprus to name just five. Should a club from one of those leagues or others come in for Mengi, he would be allowed to go, as Wilshere added: “I don’t even know what windows are open, but if he gets an offer, and he comes to me and says that he wants to take it, I wouldn’t stand in his way. At the moment he’s part of the group, he’s training and that’s how, unless it changes, it will be.”