Jack Wilshere has made it clear that Luton wanted to keep hold of Josh Keeley and the keeper wanted to remain a Hatter after the club rejected transfer interest in their highly-rated goalkeeper.
Keeley has become a Republic of Ireland international since arriving at Kenilworth Road and has quickly established himself as Wilshere’s first-choice goalkeeper.
Last night he earned his first clean sheet of the League One campaign after Town beat Stockport 2-0, making a fine save in the first half to keep the scores level.
But 24 hours earlier, Millwall attempted to prise him away from Luton with a reported £1.5million bid. But the Hatters turned down the approach.
“I love Josh, we love Josh,” said Wilshere, adding of the interest: “And I think it’s credit to the goalkeeping coach, the goalkeeping department, on how he’s developed since he came here. But we want Josh here with us. He loves it here,”
Keeley joined Luton from Tottenham Hotspur last summer and played a key role as the Hatters finished the campaign strongly, narrowly missing out on the play-offs.
Wilshere, speaking last night after Luton got back to winning ways, also stressed the importance of the result after the 5-2 defeat at Mansfield, with the Hatters responding immediately to their worst performance of the campaign. The clean sheet was particularly significant given the defensive problems Luton had experienced in their opening league matches, where they’d conceded ten goals in three outings.
“Clean sheets are so important,” Wilshere said, adding: “We’re aware — and this is a team thing. This is a squad thing. All of us, me included. We have to improve that. We have to keep working at it. It’s everyone. It’s a collective thing that we need to improve on.
“You can see when everyone’s running back, when we get in a block, we’re hard to beat.”
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