Luton boss Graeme Jones now has virtually a clean bill of health, with all players bar the long-term injured Brendan Galloway now back in training.
As well as trying to sign new players before the transfer window shuts on Friday night, the Hatters manager has talked about getting Town’s walking wounded back fit, to bolster his squad for the final 18 games of the season.
Izzy Brown’s progress is most promising, with the Chelsea loan ace – who has still created the most chances per minute in the Championship, despite being out of action since the start of December – having now had seven days of training under his belt.
Winger Callum McManaman and defender Martin Cranie are also back in training and Jones said: “Izzy has trained now for the last seven days and played in an in-house game last Thursday.
“Callum is back from injury. Martin Cranie trained with the group for the first time today.”
Asked about the progress of Danny Hylton, who made his long-awaited return in a behind-closed-doors friendly victory over Chinese League one outfit Beijing Rehne a fortnight ago, the manager said: “Danny’s been fit for a while. Danny’s been fit since the beginning of January, but we have to follow a programme with Danny.
“So, even though it looks like he’s been fit for four weeks, within that, it’s a programme that he works two days, rests one and it’s worked, touch wood.
“He looks like he’s getting stronger but, obviously, he hasn’t had minutes on the pitch. But the first step is to have everyone available.
“Martin has had one training session but, apart from Brendan Galloway, we’ve got a clean bill of health.
“For me, the most important thing was getting everyone back fit and available for the run-in
“We’ll still have to be well-measured with the boys coming back and their minutes, because the last thing we want is a re-injury. But it’s still a real positive that we’ve got everybody available.”
This is excellent news. Let’s hope the lads can redouble their efforts and fight their way to survival. Things could be looking much better by the end of February.
PS – The transfer window doesn’t close. It ends.