Elijah Adebayo is going nowhere insists Luton boss over transfer concerns

Elijah Adebayo celebrates his goal against Hull City. Photo by Liam Smith

Nathan Jones has ruled out the sale of star striker Elijah Adebayo this summer, with the manager saying Luton’s valuation is such that he doesn’t anticipate any bids could match it.

The forward joined from Walsall in February 2021 and made an instant impact, netting on his home debut and going on to score 17 times as Town’s top scorer last term.

But Adebayo missed the last three weeks of the season, only to return in the final stages of the play-off semi-final second leg. But the 24-year-old was clearly still injured as Town chased a goal to keep their Premier League dream alive.

But Jones dismissed any fears that Hatters fans won’t get to see their talismanic marksman back in his prime again.

“He will be here, Elijah will be here,” Jones said over the threat of any potential transfer activity.

“We believe that he’s on a road to progression, so any offers now would need to be at a level that probably they’re not going to be, because he’s not at his ceiling with us yet.

“We believe that he’s only effectively 16 months into being with us and you saw a significant improvement over time here.

“Yes, he picked up an injury late on, but he had to play a lot of games.”

Town have already added Barnsley striker Cauley Woodrow to their attacking ranks, to help spread the goalscoring load in the forthcoming Championship campaign.

Luton unveil new signing, Cauley Woodrow, at Kenilworth Road. Photo by David Horn

Jones” said of Adebayo: “What we want to do this season is give him that little bit of help as we were very reliant on him in terms of in and out of possession.

“So, we want to give him that little bit of help so that we keep him fresh and more durable and that we’re able to work with him constantly as there was a big compromise last season.

“Towards the end of the season a bit of fatigue came in, that showed then in him getting injured and it was sad he missed the biggest games because he’d earned the right to play in those games.

“I’m sure, without being disrespectful to anyone, but we would have had an edge if he’d been in the team. We were very, very unlucky not to go through in the tie and he might have been the difference, you never know.”