Pelly was never looking to leave Hatters

The 23-year-old was offered a new two-year deal with the club at the end of the campaign, finally putting pen to paper after a couple of weeks.

However, that wasn’t due to the former West Ham man entertaining offers from elsewhere, or looking to move on either as speaking to the News/Gazette, he explained: “I’m really pleased to get the deal done, it took a bit of time as my mum and dad went away, and I wanted to speak to them about it before I signed.

“So once they came back, I spoke to them and they wanted to see if Luton were the club that’s going to be right for me as a player and it was always going to the right one to progress as a player, so it was a no-brainer to sign it really.

“The club offered me the deal too, so they wanted me to stay and it’s really good to be at a club where they wanted me.

“That may have been the case (other clubs interested), but it wasn’t something that I knew about and I just wanted to get the deal done.

“Luton were the club that were going to be the best one for me and they were the club I wanted to stay at.

“It’s nice to get it done early on, so that I can have it signed and know what my future is and look to plan ahead.”

Ruddock Mpanzu was one of only two first team players, along with striker Zane Banton, offered deals by new boss Nathan Jones, and he was delighted to feel wanted by the manager.

He continued: “I spoke to the gaffer about it and Nathan Jones offered me the deal so it was clear he wanted me to stay, which is great for any player to know.

“When he came in, he said, ‘I’m going to play you’ and I was starting to play, week in week out which was really good for me.

“So I just wanted to get it signed and go from here, play games, score goals, assist too and help us get to promotion back to League One next 
season.”

Ruddock Mpanzu is going to be part of a much smaller squad next term, but despite being one of the younger players, he will go into the 
new campaign as the third longest serving player, behind Jonathan Smith and Banton.

He continued: “I’m only 23 years too! But yes, I’ve been here quite a long time now.

“It’s going to be a more close knit squad now which is good and we’ve got a good squad with the young players like Cameron McGeehan and Jack Marriott who did well last season, so we believe we can push on next season.

“It’s disappointing to see the likes of Jake Howells leave and Alex Lawless, as they were here when we won the Conference, but it’s the manager’s decision, that’s what happens in football.

“I’m still friends with them and have been in touch, I wish them luck in their career, but it’s about focusing on Luton for this season and getting us promoted into League One.”