Jack Wilshere has described his first transfer window as Luton Town manager as “really positive” after overseeing a reshaped squad, admitting that the club resisted the temptation to make a late signings simply to add numbers.
The Hatters trimmed their squad significantly during January, with ten players leaving and five coming in, including the deadline day signings of Norwegian Sverre Sandal and Dutch midfielder Davy van den Berg, on loan from Utrecht, as Wilshere sought to finish with a tighter squad.
Reflecting on the experience after the window closed, Wilshere told LTFC+: “I really enjoyed it. Interesting. I learned a lot. I think, going into the window, it was important that we were clear with with what we were trying to achieve.
“And there’s some ups and downs along the way with that. We had some late nights but, overall, I think we had a a really positive window.”
Wilshere said the focus was always on improving the group though not necessarily with wholesale changes, as he also signed striker Devante Cole from Port Vale and loan men Kasey Palmer and Emilio Lawrence from Hull City and Manchester City, respectively.
Wilshere said: “We wanted to improve where we could but but not just quantity, we wanted quality, and I feel we’ve done that.”
But transfer deadline day on Monday was also peppered with rumours about targets, some of whom went elsewhere, such as Leighton Clarkson who ended up at Blackpool and Dylan Levitt, who went to Leyton Orient.
There was also, reportedly, two bids turned down for Stockport County’s Jack Diamond, while interest in Barnsley’s Luca Connell appeared to be rebuffed early in the day.
Despite the speculation, Wilshere revealed Luton were disciplined in sticking to their plan.
Without giving names away, he said: “There was one or two we were looking at, but we weren’t going to bring in someone just for another number. I wanted players that can come into the team, add quality, add hunger and that didn’t quite materialise.”
With the window now shut – Wilshere’s first as a manager – he believes the closure itself has lifted the mood around the training ground.
“I was happy that it was closed and I told the players that and we know what we have to do now,” he said.
“We’ve got 17 games left. We we we got the win we wanted on Saturday [against Blackpool]. But we have to go again this weekend and and against a good [Bradford] team that are that are right up there.
“Now we can focus on the rest of the season.”
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