Rob Edwards says Luton have some “really good targets” in the transfer window but has confirmed there won’t be “loads” of business because of the signings made last season and players still to return from injury.
The main area of concern for Hatters is their defence after Teden Mengi limped out of Saturday’s 3-1 pre-season defeat to Celta Vigo, adding more urgency to strengthen with none of Reece Burke, Amari’i Bell, Mads Andersen and Daiki Hashioka unlikely to be fit for the visit of Burnley their Championship opener in a week’s time.
Town have been linked with a move for Cardiff City centre half Mark McGuinness, though the Bluebirds have reportedly slapped a £10million price on the former Arsenal ace’s head.
Luton boss Edwards told The Lutonian: “We’ve got some really good targets that we’re trying to do. There’s not going to be loads because we did so much work last season.
“You can see, with some of the bodies that come back (from injury), we’re going to be in a really good place when they do. So, we’ve got to be thinking about that when they do.
“So we might not, for the first few games, have the full group and be at our strongest in terms of our squad, but we’ll be competitive and we’ll be able to get stronger as the next few weeks go on.”
Luton also have the likes of midfielder Marvelous Nakamba and attacked Jacob Brown to return from lengthy knee injuries, while the two summer signings so far – Shandon Baptiste and Reuell Walters and – both played at the weekend.
The latter, a signing from Arsenal, ended the Celta Vigo game in a defence with Tom Holmes and academy product Joe Johnson, who is the only one of the three to have a competitive Luton appearance under his belt.
“Joe, we like him, we know that,” said Edwards, adding: “I think he’s going to be a really good player. There are still areas of his game, like everyone, that he’s got to continue to work on.
“There were really good things and areas there that we want him to keep focusing on, which we’ll work hard to help him with.
“Of course he’s an option (for the first team). I was really pleased with Reuell as well, another young player that we’ve brought in that, in a couple of different positions, had a really good game. He was a positive for us.
“Shandon, as a new signing, I thought he looked excellent. There were some good bits there, some good individual performances, but we know in that area in the pitch (defence), like we were since January, we’ve got a little bit of work to do.”
