Transfer news: ‘Marquee signing’ Cauley Woodrow returns home to Hatters

Striker Cauley Woodrow has returned home to Luton Town in what manager Nathan Jones has called a “marquee signing” for an undisclosed fee from Barnsley. 

After more than a decade away, the 27-year-old former academy product has rejoined the Hatters as the club’s second signing of the summer after midfielder Alfie Doughty.

Woodrow started his career at Luton Town, joining the academy as a 14-year-old and winning a prestigious European five-a-side tournament with the Under-16s before making his first team debut 12 days after his 16th birthday away at Welling United in the FA Trophy.

But he left to join Premier League Fulham in March 2011 for a six-figure fee, and spent eight years at Craven Cottage, making 66 appearances for the Cottagers. After a series of loan spells he joined Barnsley on a permanent basis in January 2019.

He helped the Tykes to League One promotion alongside the Hatters in 2018-19, scoring 12 times in 24 appearances, before netting 15 goals in both of their first two campaigns back in the Championship, helping the Yorkshire side reach the play-offs in 2020-21.

Manager Jones said: “I asked the board and Gary (Sweet – chief executive) this year to be bold. If we want to improve on last year’s position, we had to improve significantly, so we gave them a list of signings.

“Cauley is a real standout signing for us – a marquee signing. I’ve worked with him briefly before with England U21s and he’s a player we know really well from his Barnsley days, plus he’s a local lad as well.

“It’s a fantastic signing and I thank the board for being bold, brave and for backing me on this. We are sure that Cauley has the quality to make us better.”

Talking the club’s website, the Welshman added: “He’ll be desperate to do well because he’s that type of character. He’s a player with real good technical ability, he gives us good options in the attacking area and he’s a type of player that we haven’t got, a really clever player.

“It is a position that we wanted to strengthen because we know we have pace, power and athleticism. What we needed to add now was real quality, and Cauley brings that.”

Woodrow will wear the number 10 shirt.