Kodua will be looking to flourish as a 10 and on the wing
Although he sees him as primarily a winger, Town chief Jack Wilshere will look to give attacker Gideon Kodua the tools to also play in a more central role after he made his loan move to Kenilworth Road a permanent one last week.
The 21-year-old has been a star for the Hatters since arriving from West Ham United in the summer, on target 10 times to lead the way in the club’s scoring charts. Becoming a real crowd favourite too, Luton gave supporters a welcome boost ahead of their 2-1 win over Bradford City by announcing the youngster had put pen to paper to become a full-time Town player on Friday.
Since joining, Kodua has played in a number of positions, on both flanks and through the middle too, although thankfully no longer operating in the wingback role that former manager Matt Bloomfield tried him in. Speaking about just where he sees him ending up, Wilshere said: “If you ask me where do I see him, probably his main position is as a winger, but we can also play him inside. He’s got the ability, the awareness, the knowledge of how to play centrally as well which is not easy.
Gideon Kodua on the ball for Luton against Bradford City - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Imagesplaceholder image
Gideon Kodua on the ball for Luton against Bradford City - pic: David Horn / PRiME Media Images
I’m not biased because I played there, but I do think it is one of the hardest positions to play. You have to have so much awareness and he’s come up with some big moments from that position this season, so he gives you a lot of variation as well. At times before I came here, he played as a wingback as well, so players like that are very important and it’s important for him and his career going forward that we try and focus on one position, but also give him the ability to play in both. I think we will try and develop him as a 10 and as a winger and there’s a lot of similarities in that role, especially the way we play.
"Sometimes he’ll start off on the wing and then find himself inside, so we have to focus on all those areas. We think he can develop but that’s where we’ll go forward with him and when you have someone who gives you that goal threat, sometimes getting him centrally and closer to the nine, you’ve seen him at times this season with Nahki (Wells) dropping a bit deeper, someone to then run behind and stretch, he can do that. He has a good understanding of when to do that, so we’ll try him in both positions.”
During what has been a disappointing campaign for large parts, Kodua has been one of the few bright sparks, particularly since Wilshere took over in October, scoring in four successive appearances during the Christmas period. The Hatters manager knows it won’t always be an upward spiral for a player who has made 73 senior appearances in total during his career to date, having had loan spells with Wycombe Wanderers and playing six times in the EFL Trophy for West Ham U21s.
Wilshere continued: “We also have to understand that development is not linear and there’ll be ups and downs. He’s probably faced that at times this season. When I first came, he started the first game and the second but then not the third and development is like that, especially with young players. I think the most impressive thing about him is his consistency and his ability to bounce back from a bad performance or a bad moment in the game, because that’s going to happen again. He’s going to face a little bit more adversity throughout his career and you have to have that in mind when you’re developing players, you have to try and build their resilience to things like that.”
Having played 616 minutes and 622 minutes during his first two seasons, then with 2,060 minutes already under his belt, Kodua has easily managed over double the amount of time he has ever spent on the pitch at any stage of his career so far. Although Wilshere will tread carefully, he knows that the extra game time is essential to aid Kodua going forward too, saying: “That’s part of development.
"That was a big battle when I was in development football that I wanted to push as I knew what certain players were going into and credit to West Ham, I always say that, I think West Ham have away of developing robust, resilient players that can survive at this level and Gideon is definitely an example of that. We have to be careful with him of course, but he’s also at the stage of his development as well where we need to push a little bit as we want him to become even more robust, even more resilient, to play Saturday, Tuesday all season.
"We have a good relationship, me and the medical team and the performance team, we’re always in conversations. If a certain player has to miss a certain training session to benefit him for the long term, we’re always open to that and I think we’ve done that really well. I spoke before about players like Mads (Andersen) and the limited minutes they’ve had over the last few years. We’ve found a nice rhythm for players like him and that doesn’t just happen. We have to plan, we have to communicate, we have to be open to different things, so we have to push Gids, but also understand where he’s at.”
Asked whether he tells the attacker and the rest of his players at Kenilworth Road to watch those in the Premier League who ply their trade in the same position to see what is needed to try and emulate them, in Kodua’s place Arsenal and England star Bukayo Saka, Wilshere added: “Yes, but also I think and make it clear to the coaches you always have to coach the players for the next level, for the top level, as that’s where we want to get to and that’s where we want the players to have ambition to get to.
"When I was growing up, the players I used to watch, Joe Cole, and players that were playing in the same league as me, but you always take inspiration from other players and I’m sure if you asked Gids who his favourite players are there will be players in the Premier League that he looks at. He sees certain things in their game that he can try and add to his game, but it’s step by step and we have to first of all accept where we are and commit to that, but always have the top level in mind.”
Finally, Kodua himself was thrilled to have become a permanent Hatter, also finding himself a regular on the scoresheet once more, as he added: “I’m so happy to have made the move permanent. It’s something I’ve wanted. You can see on the pitch how passionate I am playing for the club and contributing. It’s about continuing what I’ve been doing, scoring goals and playing well.
“It’s been like going back to my old ways. When I was 18, this was normal to me, being a goalscorer. It was just about transitioning into the men’s game and showing people that I can do it at senior level. I have my own goals and targets for the season, which I won’t say now but I’ll let you know by May!”
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