Luton manager Matt Bloomfield admitted Mark McGuinness’ deadline day move to Sheffield United was “a blow” but said the club had planned for the possibility all summer.
McGuinness – who Town only signed last summer from Cardiff for an expected club record fee, though officially undisclosed – impressed at the end of last season and the manager revealed that he had been attracting interest from several Championship clubs during the off-season, with Ipswich also reportedly keen, before sealing a late switch to Bramall Lane.
“It was late, but we were also prepared, if that made sense, because Mark’s had interest throughout the summer from several different clubs in the Championship,” Bloomfield said. “He was a top performer for us at the end of last season and there’s an obvious reason why he was desired elsewhere.
“So we’d already kind of pre-empted that a little bit and made some signings of our own, with Nigel [Lonwijk] coming in, with Kal [Naismith] coming back, with Hakeem [Odoffin] coming in, just in case we lost one of the boys that we thought would be fancied elsewhere. But then it happened really late and there was an offer put on the table. Unfortunately, that was the case that Mark was going to move on.”
Bloomfield praised the 24-year-old Republic of Ireland international for his professionalism during a summer in which his pre-season was hampered by a viral illness that saw him fly home early from their preparation camp in Slovenia.
“I can’t speak highly enough of Mark in terms of how he’s conducted himself throughout the whole summer,” he said. “You would never guess that he was wanted elsewhere because his work-rate, his integrity to the situation. He goes with our very, very best wishes because he didn’t provoke anything. It was an offer that came in, and inevitably, once it comes in, he’s going to move on.”
Asked about the impact of losing an almost ever-present player of McGuinness’ stature, Bloomfield admitted it would be felt.
“Whenever you lose someone of Mark’s character and personality and performance level, of course it’s a blow,” he said after seeing his side beat Barnet 4-1 in the Vertu Trophy. “But we kind of pre-empted that we might lose him. We had to make plans around that. I think Mads Andersen has been in fantastic form earlier in the season, we hope to have him back very soon. Kal can play in the middle, we wanted to give Christ [Makosso] the game in the middle as well tonight to have a look at him playing in there.
“So yeah, it’s a blow, of course it is, because we think so highly of Mark as a whole football club. But we tried to make plans around it earlier in the summer.”
