Jack Wilshere says there was never any doubts in his mind that Emilio Lawrence would return to Luton Town for a season-long loan spell after he “chased him all summer”, despite interest from clubs in the Championship and the potential that his parent club Manchester City might look to the second tier to continue his development.
The Hatters boss has spoken before of his relationship with the 20-year-old who joined the club in January for the back end of last term, and helped Town to win the Vertu Trophy amid an 11-game unbeaten run to end the League One season.
Lawrence too spoke last season of his affection for Luton and with the club keeping the number 10 and 11 shirts free last week, when they made their squad announcement, hopes remained high among supporters that the Scottish youth international could be tempted back to Kenilworth Road.
However, as the summer transfer window progressed and the season started last week in the Carabao Cup, there was always a doubt amongst some sections of the fanbase, whether a second spell could be secured.
But asked if he had those concerns, Wilshere said: “In my head, no. Maybe as time went on. But, I think from a young player’s perspective, we should be OK with him having the ambition to play at a high level because we want to get to a higher level as well.
“I was in constant conversation with him. I was ringing him, I was speaking to his parents, and I made my opinion really clear to him that I feel like for him to get where he wants to be, this is the next step, and this is the best place to come back to. So, yeah, maybe a small bit, but I was always confident.”
Wilshere added: “I was always pretty confident it would happen. I said it to him after the last game of the season, said it to his parents. I chased him all summer. We spoke probably most weeks.
“I understood his situation. Of course, he did well here last year. So he had a little bit of interest from the league above. But I’m really happy and a little bit proud, really, of everything, of everyone in the environment that we can get a playeron loan, that he trusts us.
“The club that he’s at is actually really good at getting players out on loan and building them up that way. They trust us. He trusts the staff, he likes the environment. So yeah, really, really happy and proud he’s back.”
Asked if there was any discussion if Lawrence’s return could be a permanent deal, Wilshere said: “He’s a good player. We want good players. But we also have to respect Man City and they’ve got a track record of being quite good at it. So we tried but it’s a season-long loan.”
Lawrence’s return was confirmed this morning on the eve of the League One season opener at Reading tomorrow. And in his first comments back in Town colours, the winger said that Wilshere was a major factor in his decision to return.
The manager said: “Of course, I’m the manager of the football club and that’s nice to hear. But when I came here, I wanted to create an environment that players want to be in.
“It’s all about the players. Players are the most important thing at any football club. We need them. I need them. We want them to run, we want them to compete and we want them to be successful for us.
“Creating an environment that’s player focused was really important, and then, of course, the development side of things, I believe, that the way any team improves is that you improve the individual within it. And the staff will really buy into that.
“And that’s not just football. But of course, football, one of the most important things and probably the most important thing and everything has to feed into football. But there’s so many other things that go into that. We’re on the right track with that.”
Lawrence’s returns to squad full of familiar faces from last term and while his move was officially announced this morning, he’d already had a few training sessions with the squad and is available to play against Reading tomorrow.
Wilshere will decide later today who will take the left wing berth after academy prospect Benny Benagr’s scoring professional debut last week was followed by him signing a new contract with the Hatters.
“I think that was probably why I was confident and OK with it [Lawrence’s loan] being a little bit later,” said the Town boss.
“The one thing that we wanted to do with Kasey [Palmer], with Clicker [Jordan Clark], with Walshie, [Liam Walsh], was keep that together and improve around that.
“We worked really hard to try and build an identity and Emilio was part of that. Emilio understands us. He understands his team-mates. And for him to fit in, again, will be will be easier than bringing someone else in.”
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