Luton Town must eye 7-goal star in January – he could become Ogbene 2.0.
Luton Town are starting to get the wind in their sails after a poor start to the 2024/25 season, with Rob Edwards determined to turn his side’s fortunes around by pushing for promotion once again.
The recently-relegated Hatters lost some key players over the summer after succumbing to the Premier League drop last season.
The likes of Ross Barkley, Gabriel Osho and Chiedozie Ogbene are just a few of the more important names that departed Kenilworth Road in the summer.
When you look at it on paper, Luton’s summer business was ultimately poor. The likes of Shandon Baptiste and Mark McGuinness arrived, and Victor Moses was a free agent addition later on, but a lot more could’ve been done to plug gaps and strengthen.
The Bedfordshire outfit’s Championship return has been a harsh return to reality, after a fairytale year in the Premier League.
And if Edwards isn’t happy with his team’s position come January, he will almost certainly dip into the transfer market – one target he should have is Peterborough United attacker, Kwame Poku, who has been a standout for Darren Ferguson’s side so far in League One, and he could replace the pace and drive that was seen by Ogbene in the top flight last year.
Chiedozie Ogbene is proving to be a bigger Luton Town loss than anticipated
luca koleosho and chedozie ogbene
It was inevitable that clubs from a higher level would be keeping tabs on Town’s best players during the summer, following their relegation from the top flight of English football.
Former England star Barkley garnered the most attention, as his excellence in midfield contributed massively towards Luton’s survival bid, and he was snapped up by his former club, Aston Villa.
Osho also impressed during the Premiership campaign and opted for a new challenge out in France with AJ Auxerre, rather than renewing his contract.
One of the more unexpected departures was Chiedozie Ogbene, who returned to the Premier League with newly-promoted Ipswich Town.
The Republic of Ireland international made a name for himself at Rotherham United, playing over 100 times for the Millers, but Luton saw an opportunity when the winger’s contract was up in the summer of 2023 and pounced to secure his signature.
After his nine goals for Rotherham the season prior, Ogbene was relishing the chance to make the step up to the top flight, albeit it was a surprise that he made such a jump to some.
The winger would become an important player for Edwards’ side, as they battled to retain their Premier League status.
Whilst they were ultimately unable to achieve this, Ogbene caught the eye with his performances, chipping in with four goals and an assist in 30 league appearances, which was a solid return for the ex-Brentford man.
Another factor clubs admired about the winger was his versatility. Town had deployed Ogbene in multiple different positions throughout the season, where he looked more than comfortable, including at wing-back.
Becoming a bit of a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ player, capable of playing plenty of different roles, it’s no surprise that Luton are feeling the effects of Ogbene’s departure. Whilst the Hatters made a tidy profit on the versatile player, Ogbene is the type of player who is extremely hard to replace, thanks to his capability of playing all over the pitch.
Kwame Poku could be the Chiedozie Ogbene replacement that Luton Town needMixCollage-20-Nov-2023-08-53-PM-6050
Meanwhile, in League One, Peterborough find themselves in the same boat as Luton.
Last season’s EFL Trophy winners were raided in the summer, losing some of their star players such as Harrison Burrows and Ronnie Edwards.
Unsurprisingly, this happened after the Posh failed to gain promotion to the Championship, with many of the club’s players displaying that they were good enough to play at a higher level.
Ferguson’s side has displayed a real imbalance of quality on the pitch so far this season, as their impressive attack is being let down by a very leaky defence.
Fortunately, Posh still have winger Poku, who has been the star man for the Cambridgeshire-based side this season.
His seven goals in Boro’s opening 14 matches have earned the Blues points that they may not have got without him. Sadly for Peterborough, this form doesn’t come without catching the interest of other clubs.
