Teden Mengi is expected to be fit for the Championship curtain-raiser against Burnley on Monday, but Luton’s injury concerns still persist with boss Rob Edwards having few options in defence.
But it’s not as bad as feared when after a quarter of an hour of Town’s final pre-season game against Celta Vigo on Saturday, Mengi limped out of the friendly, leaving Tom Holmes, Joe Johnson and Reuell Walters as Town’s back three.
But talking of Mengi’s availability for the televised visit of Burnley, Hatters manager Rob Edwards said: “He’s trained the last few days. T should be fine. I went a little bit greyer after 14 minutes on Saturday.”
But Luton’s injury problems have hungover from last term, particularly in the backline, with Amari’i Bell, Mads Andersen and Reece Burke all not featuring in friendly preparation games this summer.
Also midfielder Marvelous Nakamba and attacker Jacob Brown played no part in Luton’s pre-season campaign.
While the former Manchester United man Mengi is the only player set to return in time for the Championship season kick-off, other players are getting closer to a return.
Edwards said: “None of the lads that have been out injured are going to be fit and available yet, but they’re getting closer. Amari’i is the closest out of those boys.
“We’re still working hard in the market but I suppose like everyone, it’s difficult. We’ll see if there’s anything in there in the next few days, but as we stand at the moment, it’s where we’re at.”
On the Jamaican international, the manager said: “He’s training fully now. It’s probably three or four sessions that he’s done, so he’s getting there quickly.”
Andersen and Burke will follow Bell, with Edwards saying they are “probably 10 days to two weeks behind Amari’i. So, not too far off.
“Amari’i and Burkey are so important for us, we know that, don’t we? Mads has just been so unlucky so far but can be, I think, colossal for us, especially in this league and the way he defends the box, the way he puts his body on the line and the way he plays, there’s no doubt he’s going to be a big influence for us this season.
“There are some really big ones to come back and help us. It’s been a frustrating period because I’ve been saying it since January, like a broken record.”
Brown’s recover is slightly behind the central defenders, but the Town boss said”He’s progressing nicely. He’s been out on the grass and running. It’s hard to put a timeframe exactly on that, but the other three are ahead.”
Midfielder Nakamba hasn’t featured for the Hatters since December, having suffered a serious knee injury, with the length of his absence “just the nature of the injury,” according to Edwards.
He added: “But he is doing pretty well. We had some good news I think last week, where he’s really able to start building and progressing.
“Marv’s a bit of a different animal. We’ll use his fitness in getting him more fit in training as well. That’s how we did it last season, when we signed him permanently.
“He might not be too far off either, but he’ll need to train for a number of weeks with us first, but hopefully the training with us, he’ll be not too far off, which is great.”
Keeper Tim Krul is another player that hasn’t featured this summer and Edwards said: “Tim is another one that picked up an injury, which he’s nearly back from. That was in the first week, so a really unfortunate pre-season for Tim, but he’s just starting to get back to doing a bit of ball work and handing now, diving on to the crash mat and things like that. We’re just building him back up. He’ll be a few weeks and hopefully he’s back to training.”
