Luton Town have secured the signing of goalkeeper Josh Keeley from Tottenham Hotspur, with manager Matt Bloomfield describing the Republic of Ireland youth international as a player with “huge potential” and “a real future in the game”.
The 22-year-old has joined on a permanent deal, reinforcing Luton’s ongoing summer rebuild, which has already seen six arrivals and six departures, as the club reshape the squad ahead of their League One campaign.
Keeley is expected to compete for Luton’s number one shirt with James Shea and Jack Walton, following Thomas Kaminski’s move to Charlton earlier in the window, though there has been interest from Championship clubs in the latter.
“Josh is one that we’ve worked hard on over the summer and is someone we believe has a real future in the game,” Bloomfield said, speaking to the club’s website. “We’ve done a lot of work on him and feel that he’s a goalkeeper with huge potential.
“He’s an Ireland under-21 international, someone we feel is going to grow. He’s a big presence, a very good character and he wants to come and compete for the shirt.
“To be able to add someone of Josh’s pedigree and quality to the club is a real statement. He’s someone of big potential that we’re excited to add to our group.”
In a further interview with The Lutonian, Bloomfield said: “Really excited about the acquisition. I think that Josh is someone that we think incredibly highly of. He’s still young for a goalkeeper, so there’s lots of development still to come, but he’s just gone and had a really good season on loan at Leyton Orient in League One.
“The club’s acquiring Josh to come in and really lead us, moving forward. We’re really pleased to have that as our goalkeeping unit. I think that there’s a real short term focus for this season because of what we want to go and do, but we always have to have an eye on the future for our football club. And and I think, Josh, I really believe that Josh ticks both boxes, which is why it’s such an exciting acquisition for us.”
The former St Patrick’s Athletic keeper was involved in the Hatters’ pre-season training camp in Slovenia prior to the move being finalised, giving him a head start on adapting to the squad and the coaching set-up.
“We’ve enjoyed working with him in Slovenia and we’re really pleased to have him in,” Bloomfield said, adding: “He’s made a good impression on the group already.”
Keeley joined Spurs in 2022 and featured regularly for their under-21 side while also being named in several first-team squads. On loan at Orient last term, he broke a club record by keeping seven consecutive clean sheets in all competitions, helping the east London club to the League One play-off final.
Bloomfield also highlighted the work behind the scenes to secure the deal. “We did [have to work hard to get him], and I thank Gary [Sweet] and Moons [James Mooney] for their backing on the deal. When Thomas left, there was a desire as a football club to acquire someone who could offer that potential for the long term as well. It’s a good one all around for the football club, for the team, and off the back of the momentum that he’s had from a really good season at Orient.”
Keeley’s strengths were also praised in detail: “He’s very agile, really energetic as a goalkeeper, will sweep high behind the defence, very good with his feet, shot stopping as well. We’ve looked at his two loans — one at Barnet and one at Orient — and his aerial ability is improving all the time, which is really good. He’s worked really hard on that, so coming and taking crosses — he’s very dominant with that too. We really believe that we’ve got a good young goalkeeper with lots of potential to continue improving.”
Bloomfield also underlined the importance of veteran James Shea as competition and as a mentor, saying: “I cannot speak highly enough of him as a man, as a goalkeeper, as a human being. He is one of the guys that you absolutely want in your corner. He has been fantastic in pre-season, not put a foot wrong. Even last season he didn’t play any games for us, but he was incredible in the dressing room and out on the training pitch. I couldn’t speak more highly of Sheasy if I tried.”
