Luton Town’s first defeat of 2026 has sharpened the focus on recruitment, with boss Jack Wilshere acknowledging the need to strengthen his squad now the January transfer window has opened.
After seven goals and two clean sheets over the festive period, Town’s attacking spark deserted them in a 1-0 loss at Exeter City, where in-form top scorer Gideon Kodua was injured and they failed to register an official shot on target.
Jerry Yates was favoured up front instead of Nahki Wells and though the former remains Town’s joint second top marksman with six goals, only two of those have come in the league and the last was on November 25, seven appearances ago.
Of Luton’s other forward players Lasse Nordås has been ill and Isaiah Jones, Ali Al-Hamadi and Elijah Adebayo are out injured and only have five league appearances between them. Jacob Brown remains goalless in eight appearances and only three starts, while Milli Alli has not played since the 2-2 draw against basement boys Port Vale on December 13, and has not even made the squad during this festive fixture schedule. Summer signing Joe Gbode has only featured in two EFL Trophy games since Wilshere’s arrival in October.
At St James’ Park, it was the seventh time this term that the Hatters have drawn a blank in all competitions. It was also a collective performance that reinforced the difference Wilshere sees between home and away football in League One – stretching their winless league run on road to four games – and the need for added quality and options, particularly in forward areas.
Asked directly whether the defeat had altered his thinking on recruitment, Wilshere was unequivocal.
“I think we definitely need more threat today. More threat on the goal,” he said.
Wilshere explained that his assessment of the squad has remained consistent despite the recent home wins, with the Exeter game underlining issues rather than creating new ones.
“My thoughts haven’t changed on that,” he told the BBC. “I think we’re pretty clear going into the window what we want, what we need. If we analyse today, we definitely need more threat.”
With the window now open, Wilshere admitted he is still learning the realities of transfer dealings in his first season as a manager.
“I’m not sure,” he said when asked how quickly new arrivals could come in. “This being my first window, I’m learning, I’m listening to the club, I’m listening to Powelly [Chris Powell, assistant manager], who’s got great experience of this time of year. The earlier it can happen, probably the better.”
Wilshere will still need to balance immediate impact with the physical demands already placed on his players during a congested period.
“It’s not always easy for players to come in and perform, especially when you don’t really have that much training time,” he said. “You have to recover, play, go again. Sometimes it’s not a tactical thing, it’s just a mentality thing.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s trip to Doncaster Rovers, Wilshere said: “If anything that’s probably the positive today [against Exeter], that we know what we’re going into. We can look at it, show the players [and say], ‘be ready’.”
