Hatters players are back in for a week next month
Luton boss Jack Wilshere admits he will keep talking with former club Arsenal over the possibility of loaning in some of their hottest young talents to help his side achieve their ambition of winning promotion next season.
With Town having unveiled Hearts’ William Lancefield as the club’s new head of recruitment yesterday, the Hatters are keen to start bolstering their playing personnel next, as they bid to improve on last season’s finish of eighth place that saw them end up just one point outside of the play-offs zone.
Wilshere has shown he isn’t afraid of using the loan market during his time in charge, as he brought in Manchester City’s Emilio Lawrence last term, the Scotland U21 international going on to have a fine time of it at Kenilworth Road, helping Luton win the Vertu Trophy by beating Stockport County 3-1 at Wembley, plus Dutch midfielder Davy van den Berg from FC Utrecht.
Hatters boss Jack Wilshere - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Imagesplaceholder image
Hatters boss Jack Wilshere - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Images
The 34-year-old admitted recently he would consider asking his former club about sending some of their youngsters to Kenilworth Road and asked if he will talk to the Gunners about doing just that soon, Wilshere, who spent almost two decades of his playing career at the Emirates, also coaching the U18s for two years as well, reaching the FA Youth Cup during that time, told talkSPORT: “Yes, but they have to be good enough, number one, they have to be at the level, they have to be able to cope with League One. We did that with a young lad from City, Emilio Lawrence, and I'd love for him to go out and tell his story about his loan.
"His quality wasn’t in question, but his ability to deal with League One, your second balls, your duels, your running, he then came back into the team and got himself back into the team as a wingback where he's never played in his life. He earned my trust again and he went on and I think he got seven assists and two goals. There’s a big gap and they have to adapt quickly, but yes I'll be talking to them.”
Now starting his first full campaign at the helm in Kenilworth Road, Wilshere is looking to do better than last term, although he is keeping his targets quiet for the moment, continuing: "There'll be a conversation that we have in the meeting room and we will keep that to ourselves, because it's really important that we get our ambition and we play with ambition, but we also stay humble with that. We'll have ambition and we'll try and be successful and being successful for us is getting more points which hopefully will get us in the play-offs, but there's a lot that needs to go into it.”
Discussing last season, which saw the Hatters finish the campaign with just one defeat in 17 matches, going on a 12-game unbeaten run, winning nine of them, asked just how much of a boost winning at the home of English football and lifting the Vertu Trophy for the second time in their history was, Wilshere continued: “Yes, but then when you're on that run, when you reflect on it you want to get it over the line. The trophy was amazing, as where the club’s been the last two years, that creates a lot of pressure, a lot of frustration and a lot of doubt.
"So for everyone at the club, the staff to have a day at Wembley, and for 30,000 fans to have a day at Wembley and to win, gives everyone a lift, gives everyone a bit of belief and kicked us on a little bit more on that run. If you’d have said you had to go to Bolton at the end of the season and win to get in the play-offs and we actually did it, we'd have taken that, but it was too little too late.”
With Luton already putting their pre-season campaign together, adding a game at Barnet to join matches with Hitchin Town and Go Ahead Eagles so far, along with a warm weather training camp in Murcia, Spain, where they will also take on un-named opponent, then asked just how things were going, Wilshere added: “I’ve been in and we gave the players a programme to do off season. They’re going to come in, because it is a long break. We finished May the second, we don't come back to July the first, we're going to split that up so they come in for a week at the beginning of June. We're preparing for the pre-season, trying to improve the squad, so it's a busy time."
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