Hatters chief had considered signing Luton promotion hero Drameh ahead of Hull return
Luton boss Rob Edwards admitted he had considered signing play-off hero Cody Drameh on a permanent basis following the club’s promotion to the Premier League.
The full back was a huge hit at Kenilworth Road after arriving from Leeds United in January 2022, making 19 appearances for the Hatters and was one of the five outfield players to complete the whole 120 minutes at Wembley Stadium as Town defeated Coventry City 6-5 on penalties in the play-off final to reach the top flight.
Ahead of the club’s campaign in the highest tier of English football, there had been rumours that Drameh would return to Bedfordshire, but Edwards opted to bring in Manchester City’s Burkina Faso international Issa Kabore on a season-long loan instead, then adding Japanese international Daiki Hashioka from Belgian side Sint-Truiden in January as well.
Although Drameh played two games for his parent club at the start of the 2023-24 season, he was then sent on loan once more, heading to Championship side Birmingham City, where he made 30 appearances for the Blues who were relegated to League One last term. After ending his four years at Elland Road in the summer, the former Fulham youngster was once more linked with a move to Kenilworth Road this summer, but instead joined today’s opponents Hull City, with 13 outings so far, scoring his first ever league goal in a 3-1 win at QPR.
Drameh will also be joined by another Town player who Edwards did sign for the Premier League campaign, Ryan Giles, who moved to the Tigers in the summer, as Edwards said: “It’ll be nice to welcome a couple of those boys back, Cody and Gileo. Cody, like we said about Ethan (Horvath) the other week when he came, played a big part in that success story, so it’ll be good to see them. Of course, it was in our minds (to sign him). He did well but in the end we discussed things and went down a different route. That’s no reflection on him at all, what he did for us, a fantastic lad and it will be lovely to see him.”
Although Drameh was a real plus for the Hatters during his spell, the same can’t be said about Giles, who had been snapped up for a then club record fee when leaving Wolverhampton Wanderers. After starting the campaign in the first team, he quickly fell out of favour, Alfie Doughty coming to the fore, restricted to just 14 outings, only five of them league starts, joining Hull on loan in January where he played 17 times.
Giles then headed to the MKM Stadium on a permanent basis in the summer, and has played 10 matches for City so far, as Edwards added: “Last year, with a lot of our lads that came in, a lot of them were success stories. Not all of them can work out exactly how everybody wants, so that’s fine and that’s football. He was a great lad around the place, Ryan, and it will be nice to see him as well.”
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