Attacker nets equaliser in Vertu Trophy final at Wembley
Luton’s on-loan Manchester City youngster Emilio Lawrence has revealed he would be open to a return to Kenilworth Road next season.
The 20-year-old has become something of a star for the Hatters since leaving the Etihad on a temporary basis to dip his toe in the waters of senior football back in January. After a difficult start, the talented youngster has shone in recent weeks, opening his account with a superb goal in the 1-1 draw against Stockport County last month, then on target against the same opposition when drawing Luton level during their excellent 3-1 Vertu Trophy final victory at Wembley on Sunday.
He has also added two assists in that time, as clearly highly thought of by his parent club, having been snapped up from Everton a few years ago, then a permanent switch would appear unlikely, with a season-long stint the more realistic, especially if the Hatters were to win promotion to the Championship via the play-offs. Asked if he had given his own future any thought, Lawrence said: “I haven’t heard anything from my agent or the club as it stands.
Emilio Lawrence looks to beat his man at Wembley on Sunday - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Imagesplaceholder image
Emilio Lawrence looks to beat his man at Wembley on Sunday - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Images
"I’m just focusing on ending the season as high as we can, doing what I can to help the team get into the play-offs and get the club back up the Championship. Hopefully we can be back here (Wembley) in the play-offs as well next month, do the same again and then we can assess what happens in the summer. I’ve loved being here, I’ve loved every minute of it, so I’d be more than happy to come back."
Lawrence certainly hasn’t had it all own way since moving to Kenilworth Road, as having started against Stevenage and keeping his place for the matches with Swindon, Lincoln and Plymouth, was then on the bench and out of the squad for four matches as he adapted to the harsh realities of life in the men’s game. Back in the squad against Plymouth in the Vertu Trophy, he then got his opportunity to start again, heading into a left wingback role he had never played in before at Port Vale, setting up Nahki Wells’ goal in the 1-1 draw.
He has gone on to make that position his own, keeping the fit-again Cohen Bramall out of the side to start the last 10 consecutive matches, as taking an impressively mature stance about his spell on the sidelines, Lawrence continued: “To be honest I wouldn’t change that. I feel like everything happened for a reason. Sometimes it’s hard to see at the time, but even that is experience, learning how to deal with different things, different scenarios in your career, but it’s all happened for the best, so I’m happy.
“I’ve enjoyed it (switch to left wingback), it’s fine. I feel like defensively I’m backing myself. I think a few fans might have been a bit nervous at times when they saw me there, but I definitely back myself there. I felt like I still was getting on the ball quite a lot higher up the pitch which is the main thing, so I can showcase what I can do higher up the pitch as well as at the back.”
Lawrence, who has recently won his place back in the Scotland U21 set-up, continued to show just why Wilshere was so keen to bring him in during the transfer window, none more so than on Sunday, as released by Jordan Clark’s pass he demonstrated his confidence on the big stage by taking a touch and then rifling through the legs of Stockport keeper Corey Addai to make it 1-1.
Discussing his performance, plus how he reacted to being dropped so early in his loan stint and what he needed to do to break back in, Wilshere said: “That’s why we brought Emilio here. He can go on his left, can go on his right, he hasn’t always done it consistently and he still needs to do it even more consistently, but he’s learned so much about what it takes to have a career in this game. Those moments are why we brought him here, for his quality in the final third.
"There’s a reason why he’s at Man City, but we also had to teach him and he had to learn and adapt quickly to the demands of League One, of what it takes and he’s done that, credit to him. He was out of the team and then back in the team as a wingback, which he’s never done, but probably the biggest thing he had to do was earn my trust out of possession, and he’s done that, he needs to go again and get even more as he’s got a lot of quality in the final third.”
On hearing that from Wilshere, then asked just how the ex-Arsenal and England star has been with him, particularly during his time out of the squad, Lawrence added: “You just feel more and more confident when the manager backs you the way he does, shows so much trust and faith, it just fuels you and you just only want to go deliver for him. We spoke a couple of times, sometimes on my day off I would be in with the assistant, just working on things that I can help and bring to the team for when I got my moment again and thankfully I got in, in a new position at left wingback against Port Vale and then haven’t come out since.”
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