Danny Hylton admits it was a relief to feel wanted by Luton manager Nathan Jones and says positive contract talks were backed up by a new deal offer almost immediately after Championship survival was secured.
The Town striker also revealed that the Welshman gave him a confidence boost after confirming he wanted to keep him at Kenilworth Road regardless of the division the club found themselves in.
Hylton, however, helped the Hatters to a final day Great Escape that saw them haul themselves out of the Championship bottom three to 19th with 3-2 victory over Blackburn Rovers.
Soon after the win, the 31-year-old knew his own future was secure, saying: “In all seriousness, I probably had a contract offer over to me by one o’clock in the morning on the day of that game, so it was very quick, actually – and I’m very appreciative to the gaffer and Gary Sweet and everyone on the board that they didn’t mess around.
“They came to me with a contract offer almost immediately, and as I’ve said, I don’t want to be anywhere else. I love the club and I love where I am, so everything went quite smoothly.”
Glen Rea, Elliot Lee, Kazenga LuaLua and Luke Berry were all in the same boat, facing the prospect of becoming free agents at the end of the season, but they all agreed to stay and fight for survival after football’s three-month Coronavirus suspension.
Berry has since signed a new two-year deal on the same as Hylton and asked if early talk of contract extensions boosted the out-of-contract aces to stay and play, the forward said: “I can’t speak on behalf of the other lads, and I don’t know what conversations they had, but I’m sure he would have had those conversations with other people.
“As a footballer you want to know that you’re wanted I suppose, and you are going to want that – not security, but you’re going to want that stability to know where you’re going to be.
“Especially for me, I wanted to be at Luton so it was a great conversation because I knew that I wanted to be there and I knew that he (Jones) wanted me, so in the back of my mind I thought ‘Right, whatever happens, I’m going to be here’.”
It was Jones who brought Hylton to Luton in 2016, signing him from Oxford and the forward, who has scored 58 times in 129 games for Town, said: “I know the gaffer quite well, but he just puts confidence in me and it takes that pressure off a bit to go out there and run around and play football without the worry of a contract at the back of your mind.”
