Town chief can’t wait to start working with ‘exciting’ new Luton signing Lamine Fanne.
Young midfielder introduced to Kenilworth Road crowd at the weekend
Luton boss Rob Edwards can’t wait to work with new signing Lamine Fanne, a player he feels that Hatters fans should be excited about seeing in action for the club come the new year.
The 20-year-old, who was born in Senegal, before moving to Spain as a child, was announced as a late addition for Town on transfer deadline day back in August, joining for an undisclosed fee from Swedish top flight side AIK. He then remained at the Strawberry Arena, going on to play 20 matches in total this term, helping his side up to third in the Allsvenskan, winning 10 of the last 12 matches that he started, with his final appearance leading to three assists in what was a 5-1 thrashing of Halmstads BK.
Now officially with the Hatters, Fanne was unveiled to the Kenilworth Road crowd ahead of Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Hull City, with Town supporters already purring over the new addition after some highly impressive highlight reels on YouTube. Although warning fans not to expect too much straight away, as the defensive midfielder only made his senior debut this term, Edwards also couldn’t hide his enthusiasm about the summer signing’s introduction to life at the Brache, saying: “I can’t wait. We’ll get him in soon and he’ll be in the building.
“He’ll have a number of weeks building up to Jan which will be great, so really excited. He’s a top young talent who the recruitment team have done really well in spotting early and we’ve gone early on him as well. He’s an exciting one, it’s important as well I always stress that we don’t put too much pressure on him too soon, like anyone. Especially for a young player to adjust to a new country and a new team, new team-mates, new way, new environment, culture and all that sort of stuff will be a challenge for him, but we’ll help him settle as soon as possible. I’m really looking forward to working with him.
“He’s a good player, he is a good player and we should look forward to seeing him as well. There will be an adjustment period, but we’ll help him settle as quickly as possible and look forward to seeing him in a Luton shirt. When we feel he’s ready (for the first team), then definitely (he’ll play). He’s a great lad, really humble, quiet. You’re meeting new people for the first time, I’ve met him a few times now, he’s quite a quiet individual, but he’s got a good personality and most importantly, a really good personality on the pitch, so he’ll settle well.”
Town CEO Gary Sweet gave an update of just what will happen to Fanne now after getting his first taste of a Luton crowd at the weekend, saying: “Those of you who have followed his progress since we announced his signing in August, you will know that Lamine has produced some outstanding performances in the heart of midfield during the run-in for the Swedish club, culminating with hat-trick of assists in the victory over Halmstad that secured European football for next season.
“Lamine will now take a short break for some well-deserved R&R and has come over for a few days to receive his nutrition and training programmes, begin his integration with the squad and get used to his new surroundings before starting a mini pre-season at The Brache next month, so he’s ready to go in January.”
With Fanne a relative unknown to Hatters supporters before his signature was announced, then on how the midfielder, who was on the books for Spanish side Constància before moving to Sweden in 2023, came onto Town’s radar, Edwards said: “Someone who’s a certain age who starts playing first team football, whether that be in Europe or even further afield now will get flagged up on certain systems. Then people have a look on video first and then in person, and then there’s contact.
“A lot of it goes on, but normally if it’s a young player who makes his first team debut that will get flagged. Then all of a sudden, his data and stats are looking good, so it’s get eyes on him. It was a really good, swift operation with some real purpose that, but its do we believe in him? Yes we do, and we made sure it happened. I loved how quickly it all went through. Really, really positive and I think a big step forward for us as a club how we went about that.”
The midfielder now joins a number of foreign recruits in the Town squad, adding to former German U21 international Tom Krauß who has penned a season-long loan from Mainz and Japanese wingback Daiki Hashioka, who arrived from Belgium in January. Although Town will now cast their eye overseas on a more regular basis due to the better value available to them it doesn’t mean that the Hatters will be flooding their squad with a number of foreign acquisitions.
Edwards added: “It doesn’t mean that all of a sudden everyone’s going to be from abroad and we’re going to be completely different, but we’ve got to be clever in the market as well and know where the value is. We obviously want really good players, we want players that are good technically and tactically, we want players that are resilient, strong and fit and of a decent age as well, and to get that and if they’re English, there’s a massive premium on that.
“So sometimes you have to look further afield. It doesn’t mean we’ll be doing that with everyone but it does show that the club is certainly moving forward and making big strides in that and how we recruit as well. You’ve got to continue to do that always and try and find the best players for the best value that can help us and if that’s a free transfer, someone like a Victor Moses or if it’s a young player from abroad then we’ll try and do that.”
