Luton chief happy to see key defender return as he confirms talismanic striker will face Celta Vigo
Luton centre half Teden Mengi made a welcome return to the Hatters back-line for Friday evening’s 2-2 pre-season friendly draw against Scottish Premier League side Dundee United.
The 22-year-old had been one of the club’s breakout stars in his and Town’s debut Premier League campaign last term, playing 30 top flight matches as he went on to win his first England U21 cap and was also named as the Bobbers Travel Away Player of the Season at the end of year
presentation evening. Having started off Town’s warm-up fixtures by being named in the side that faced Danish Superliga outfit AGF, Mengi then surprisingly didn’t feature in either of Town’s two matches out in Slovenia last week.
His absence had seen rumours start to swell that the former Manchester United defender was leaving Kenilworth Road this summer, with a host of clubs including French side Nice linked with his signature recently. However, Mengi was back against the Tangerines, named as part of a defence that also contained Tom Holmes and Joe Johnson at Tannadice, playing a welcome 76 minutes before making way for Aidan Francis-Clarke in the closing stages.
Asked about missing the recent matches, Hatters boss Rob Edwards, who is still without Mads Andersen, Reece Burke, Amari’i Bell and Daiki Hashioka, with the quartet all recovering from injuries of varying lengths, said afterwards: “T was just feeling one or two bits. It was important (to rest him), we can’t have many more injuries.”
Meanwhile, forward Carlton Morris, who had scored three goals in three pre-season matches before sitting out the 3-2 defeat to Turkish Super Lig side Goztepe a week ago, also didn’t get any game time against United either. Edwards revealed it had been a precautionary issue and he will be back in the side before the season opener against Burnley on Monday, August 12, adding: “It was important we look after people and Carlton’s the same.
“Carlton’s good, he’s in a good place. He’s out on the grass and he is doing work. He will be fit for the next game next week so we’ll see Carlton back on the pitch against Celta Vigo. We’re having to manage one or two people and because we’ve got people out, there’s been a bit of a domino effect
and we’re asking more of other people which is then pushing them a bit more than we would like to do in pre-season. So it’s been tough to juggle that around, and we’ve not wanted to take any unnecessary risks with some key players.”
