Luton Town transfer approach for League One star may not have been expected | OneFootball

The Hatters have plenty of attacking talent on their hands, but just can't find the magic formula of late

With the talents at their disposal before the season began, few would have expected Luton Town to have one of the worst attacks in the division heading into the January transfer window.

Despite dropping down from the Premier League, the Hatters still had a number of top goal-getters at their disposal, and looked set to carry on where they left off the last time they were in the division, but things haven’t turned out that way at all.

Sitting in the relegation zone with only 29 goals from 28 games, Town are a shadow of their former selves of late, with Matt Bloomfield the man now tasked with turning things around following the departure of Rob Edwards earlier in the campaign.

The former Wycombe Wanderers boss is already said to have attempted to raid his former employers with a bid for striker Richard Kone, with the offer further proof of just how desperate the Bedfordshire side are for a presence up top who can find the back of the net on a regular basis, despite many of the heroes of their 2022/23 promotion season still at Kenilworth Road.

Luton Town strikers fail to deliver after Premier League promotion

It is rare for a relegation hangover to last this long, but Luton are now facing the distinct possibility of suffering back-to-back relegations this season, with no win since Christmas seeing them slip into the bottom three of the Championship.

While the Hatters were given their excuses earlier in the season as they looked to shake off relegation from the Premier League, things have never been able to recover, with the mood around Kenilworth Road souring by the week.

All the hard work to climb from non-league to the Premier League has seemingly been undone in the blink of an eye, with some of the finest strikers in the EFL failing to live up to their billing over the past six months.

Carlton Morris is top scorer for the Hatters with seven league goals this season, although two of those have come from the penalty spot, with the former Barnsley man the only frontman to come out of the season with any credit thus far, having played his part in vital wins against Derby County, Stoke City and Sheffield Wednesday across the campaign.

There will be plenty of fingers pointed at Elijah Adebayo after his profligacy in front of goal this term, with the striker underperforming his xG by a whopping 6.2 goals, which underlines just how wasteful he has been when given the opportunities to stick the ball in the back of the net.

Town as a whole are underperforming by 4.0 goals, and much of that can be put on Adebayo’s shoulders, but a lack of creativity and spark is also costing them dear, with Cauley Woodrow yet to find the back of the net this season, while Jacob Brown only has three goals to his name.

On paper, that quartet are among the finest frontmen that the second tier has to offer, but a lack of clinical edge in the final third has been costing them dear of late, with chances proving hard to come by, especially on the road.

Luton Town showing potential desperation in Richard Kone bid

Wycombe were quick to reject any advances from their old boss for Kone’s services this winter, with Pete O’Rourke shedding some light on the situation at Football Insider, after Football League World exclusively revealed last month that the Hatters were plotting an offer.

Much has been made of the 21-year-old’s dramatic rise to prominence after being plucked from the non-league circuit 12 months ago, with 17 goals in 43 games proving him to be a top marksman in the third tier.

That form in front of goal has been crucial to the Chairboys’ promotion push in the current campaign - something which Bloomfield also had a major hand in - and they will be unlikely to allow any departure from Adams Park in the next few days.

As that news came to light, it showed just how desperate Luton have become of late, with four fine frontmen at their disposal, yet they feel the need to add even more attacking personnel to their squad, in the hope of turning their fortunes around in the second-half of the campaign.

Whether Bloomfield manages to convince extra forward players to join the club before the February 3 deadline remains to be seen, but if the talent on the books continue in their current vein of form, things are unlikely to get better anytime soon.