Rob Edwards says that Luton are starting to “cast the net” wider in the hunt for new recruits after a claim from Liga de Quito that the Hatters had a bid turned down for Ecuadorian youngster Oscar Zambrano.
ESPN reported that the director of the Ecuador Series A club, Esteban Paz, revealed to Radio Cobertura that Town and Dutch giants Ajax were interested in the U20 international.
Luton have since signed Albert Sambi Lokonga on loan from Arsenal, but the 23-year-old suffered an injury last week that will keep the Belgian out for months.
Edwards played down a move for Zambrano, but did reveal that Luton are looking further afield for talent.
“I know the name, we are starting to maybe cast the net out a little bit wider, but there’s a number of young players who have been on the radar that we’ve had a look at, so not too much in it at the moment,” said the Luton chief.
“It’s a very much smaller scaled-down way of things, but you can look at scouting, whether it’s data and people that will flash up on certain metrics and then we can pursue that a little but and get to watch them, so we’re not quite at Brighton’s level yet, but maybe starting to cast the net out a little bit further.”
Asked about looking abroad for players, Edwards said: “It is appealing as there is some real talent there first and foremost, and then from a financial point of view it can really work as well.
“We’ll keep an eye on a lot of the players who have been brought to our attention, but I love working with young players anyway, as they’re the ones you can really help mould and keep improving, and again, from a financial point of view, it ticks a lot of boxes for our model as a football club and how we want to try and move forward.
“But there’s a lot of people in that big net at the moment, a lot of names that we’ll keep looking at over the coming months.”
