Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu says that being a football history-maker is “crazy” and “special” but that it will only be when he wears a Luton shirt with a Premier League badge that he’ll realise the club has “achieved something mad”.
The midfielder’s new contract was announced yesterday to keep him at the club into tenth year, having joined Town in the non-league.
When the 29-year-old helped the Hatters win the Championship play-off final in May that was his fourth promotion with Luton, which made him the only player to ever go from the non-league to the Premier League with the same club. He joked at the time that he’d “completed football”.
And when he makes his first appearance in the top flight, Mpanzu will then become the first-ever player to play in all top five English divisions with the same club.
He said: “It’s crazy man! I’ve been with Luton since non-league so to achieve that with one club is special. I’ve still got a way to go until the 12th of August away at Brighton, which is going to be a difficult game, as all of them will be, but just to know that I’ve played a lot of games for the club and helped them throughout every league is special. The 12th of August can’t come soon enough.”
Asked what it means to him to be a Premier League player, the DR Congo international said: “I don’t think words can describe it just yet. When the fixtures came out, that hit a little bit but the closer we get to August it will be like we’re getting there.
“Then once we travel down to Brighton it’s going to be special. When we put on that shirt and see the Premier League badge, I’ll think, yeah, we’ve achieved something mad.
“We don’t want it to end so soon, so we’re going to try and win as many games as we can out of the 38 games that we play. It’s going to be an adventure, to say the least.”
Luton are already firm favourites for relegation from the Premier League, but Mpanzu has only ever experienced promotion with the club and has continually proven doubters wrong at each level of the game he’s played at.
The Londoner said: “It’s about self-belief and to have confidence in yourself, with that confidence you can do anything in the world.
“There’s always going to be doubters and people that have their opinion, but I believe in myself and my ability. The club and the manager agree so I’ve got to repay the faith that they’ve put in me and keep trying to perform.”
Mpanzu missed the first few days of pre-season training, but speaking to the club’s website about how he’ll prepare for the first Premier League game, away at Brighton and Hove Albion, he said: “Like I normally do, just enjoying the vibes, man! You never know when the football thing might end, so it’s just about enjoying, working hard, always, listening to Rob (Edwards, manager) and all the staff that he’s brought into the club, taking on the tactics that we’re going to be doing for all the teams we’ll be playing.
“Just taking everything in my stride, keep trying to ball out and when that day comes hopefully we get a result. Football’s a results business so hopefully that comes and it puts us in a good way to start the season.”
