Luton Town urged to recoup a “couple of million” as Stoke City eye midfielder
Luton Town recently suffered their second relegation in a row, which has dropped them down from the Premier League to League One in one go.
As is often the case with relegated teams, there is an expectation that plenty of players are going to be coming and going from Kenilworth Road this summer.
Fanne linked with departure
One of those linked with a move away is a recent signing that didn’t taste the Premier League, young Spanish midfielder Lamine Fanne, who joined last summer from AIK, but spent the first half of the season back on loan at his former club.
Stoke City and Club Brugge are among the clubs interested in the 21-year-old, with there also being potential suitors in La Liga, according to Fotboll Direkt.
Fanne was signed for a reported £3.5 million fee, with add-ons that could total the deal to £5m, so it represented a reasonably big signing for Luton.
The midfielder has been on a meteroic rise, having joined AIK in 2023 from a Spanish fifth division club, taking the Allsvenskan by storm in his time there and being one of the standout players for the Stockholm club. While he hasn’t had a great time at Luton and looks to be on his way out, the player seems to still be highly regarded as a potential star of the future.
A busy transfer window for Luton
FLW’s Hatters fan pundit Simon Mills foresees a busy transfer window for his club following relegation, saying, “I’m expecting so many of our players to be linked with moves away over the next couple of months because we got relegated. Obviously, stories are going to do the rounds and agents are going to drum up stories about their clients. That’s the way that football goes.”
Fanne didn’t have too much of an impact at Kenilworth Road, only making 12 Championship appearances at the club. For this reason, Simon doesn’t believe that he has seen enough of the youngster and wouldn’t be hugely opposed to him leaving the club.
On Fanne’s departure, Mills added: “I don’t think Fanne had a terrible time here but I don’t think we saw enough of him. If he was going to leave I would hope that we recoup what we spent on him which was a couple of million I believe.”
Simon also wants to see his club avoid making the same mistakes that have potentially led to back-to-back relegations.
Mills added: “But if he wants to move, then I don’t think we should be in the habit of forcing anyone to stay because I think that’s what made morale take a huge hit last season and you saw where that got us. For me, any player who doesn’t want to be here can go.”
Charlton Athletic will have player regret as Stoke City, Crystal Palace transfer news emerges
Charlton Athletic must regret their decision to release defender Junior Tchamadeu as he is now attracting interest from the Premier League.
The right-back, who joined the Addicks’ academy at the age of 10, was just 16 years old when he was let go by the club in 2020.
He had trials with Luton Town and Tottenham Hotspur following his release, before signing for League Two side Colchester United, where he made a name for himself as one of the most promising young full-backs in the EFL and earned a move to Stoke City.
Tchamadeu made his first-team debut for the U’s when he was still only 16, in the same year that he was released by Charlton, and he has since shown that the London club probably made the wrong decision not to tie him down to a professional contract.
Charlton must regret Tchamadeu decision
In the five years that have passed since Charlton released Tchamadeu, the 21-year-old has won Colchester’s Player of the Year award, earned a big move to the Championship with Stoke City, and represented Cameroon at the African Cup of Nations.
He made 41 appearances in the second tier for the Potters during the 2024/25 campaign, and his performances during the second half of the season have not gone unnoticed, as he is now attracting transfer interest from the Premier League.
Charlton’s South London rivals Crystal Palace have been linked with a move for the Barking-born defender, and according to those reports, it would take a fee of at least £4.2 million
Nathan Jones will certainly be content with his current first-choice right-back, as Kayne Ramsay has been outstanding this term during Charlton’s run to the League One play-off final, but that does not change the fact that releasing Tchamadeu was probably the wrong decision. for him to leave the Bet365 Stadium this summer.
There is no doubt that if the Addicks could turn back the clock, they would do everything in their power to keep Tchamadeu, as not only would he have been a good option at right-back in League One over the last few seasons, but the club may also eventually have been able to command a significant transfer fee for his sale.
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