Rob Edwards says the transfer capture of Lamine Fanné was a “big step forward” for Luton’s recruitment but has urged fans not to put pressure on the midfielder too soon.
Town swooped for the 20-year-old Senegal-born Spaniard on the summer transfer deadline day, but immediately loaned him back to Swedish top-flight club AIK until the end of their season earlier this month.
Fanne will officially join up with the Hatters in January, but he was introduced to the fans at Kenilworth Road on Saturday before kick-off of the 1-0 Championship win over Hull City.
“Can’t wait,” said Edwards of the midfielder’s upcoming arrival, adding: “We’ll get him in soon, and he’ll be in the building and he’ll have a number of weeks building up to Jan, which will be great. So, I’m really excited.
“A top, young talent that the recruitment team have done really well in spotting early, and we’ve gone early on him as well.
“I think he’s an exciting one. It’s important and, again, I always stress this, that we don’t put too much pressure in too soon.
“Like anyone, especially a young player, to adjust to a new country and a new team, new team-mates, new way, new environment, culture and all that sort of stuff, will be a challenge for him.
“But, we’ll help him set up as quickly as possible. I’m really looking forward to working with him.”
Talking about the deal, Edwards said: “I loved how quickly it all went through, really, really really positive. And I think a big step forward for us as a club as well and how we went about it.”
The manager added of the transfer identification process: “They (players) get flagged up early. So, someone who’s a certain age, who starts playing first-team football in Europe or even further afield than that now will get flagged up on certain systems.
“Then, obviously, people will go and look. They’ll have a look on video first, then in person. Obviously then there’s contact and there’s a lot that goes on. Normally, if it’s a young player who makes first team debut first, that’ll get flagged. Then all of a sudden, if his data and stats are looking good, then let’s get eyes on him.
“It was a really good, swift operation with some real purpose on that. It was like, ‘do we believe in him? Yes, we do’, and we made sure it happened.”
After signing Daiki Hashioka from Belgian side Sint-Truiden last January, Fanne is the second player that Luton have looked abroad for and a sign that the club is spreading its net wider to find new recruits.
“It doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to be from abroad and we’re going to be completely different. But we’ve got to be clever in the market as well and know where the value is.
“We obviously want really good players. We want players that are good technically and tactically. We want players who are resilient and strong and fit and obviously have a decent age as well.
“And if they’re English, that there’s a massive premium on that. So, sometimes you have to look further afield. It doesn’t mean we’ll be doing that with everyone.
“It does show that the club is certainly moving forward and making big strides in that and how we recruit as well.
“You’ve got to continue to do that always and try and find the best players for the best value that can help us. And if that’s a free transfer or someone who’s like a Victor Moses, or if it’s a young player from abroad, then we’ll try and do that.”
Already, video highlights packages have circulated online to get Hatters fans excited about Fanne’s arrival and Edwards said: “He is a good player and people should look forward to seeing him as well, but I’ll reiterate it, let’s not put too much pressure on him too soon.
“A young kid coming to a new country, a new club. So, there will be an adjustment period, but we’ll help him settle as quickly as possible and we’re looking forward to seeing him in a Luton shirt.”
The deal for Fanne was one of the successes of a frustrating summer transfer window. And in his Hull City match programme notes, Luton CEO Gary Sweet wrote that there was “unscrupulous agent after unscrupulous agent” trying to sell Town’s players, which was “an unrealistic fantasy which was somewhat unplanned and hard to navigate disruption.”
Asked of his experience of that period, Edwards said: “There’s been a lot of challenges. And the window is difficult, no doubt. For everyone. For us, the club, the players. So, it’s a good experience for us and stuff that we’ve never had to deal with before.
“We’ll be better for it once we’ve got through this period now that we’re going through, it was a difficult time.
Without name checking other clubs, there’s other clubs that obviously went down with us that have lived through it before and experienced it.
“Maybe, with hindsight we’d have done things slightly differently. Maybe. But I think it’s been a really interesting time where we’ve all found out a lot about each other.
“We’re going to come through this and be better for it. Certainly, we want to be back there (Premier League) at some stage. We’ve done it before, so there’s no reason why we can’t.
“We’ve had a difficult few months, but that happens to a lot of teams, bigger and better clubs than us. So, we’ll come through it and the players will come through it, work through it and show their best form as well. I’m convinced of that.”
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