Town declare no stars will leave in window

Only a lucrative offer from a Championship side could tempt Town to part with any of their stars according to managing director Gary Sweet, writes Mark Wood.

And he declared no-one who the Hatters wanted to keep would be leaving during the January transfer window as he back manager Paul Buckle to the hilt.

He said: “We’ve had no interest in Andre Gray, we’ve only had some interest in one or two players who can go out on loan and I can assure you if we had interest in Andre Gray or anybody else for a fee, the fee won’t necessarily attract us because at the end of the day promotion to us is far more important than a few quid in the bank. Having said that, we’re not encouraging bids either. And like I said earlier, the players like it here, they like playing for Luton Town.

“Unless there’s a Championship club knocking on the door, and I’m not saying there is at all, but unless there is then maybe we will sit down with them because we don’t want to hold players back either in general. Nothing’s going to happen in January with our players. It’s going to take an awfully long cheque.

“If somebody offered us a chunk of money for one of our players, and we felt we could instantly improve with a good chunk of that money that comes in, then we might do it.

“But there’s a risk involved in it and we’d rather not take the risk and just keep the squad together because it’s taking shape.”

Boss Paul Buckle admitted he had had ‘two or three’ phonecalls from clubs interested in his players, but know he is under no pressure to sell.

And that includes the likes of star striker Gray who is set to play against hometown club Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday, with over 9,000 expected.

He said: “I believe what I’m told and I’m told no-one is going to be leaving. Andre’s the one that sticks out because he’s a young centre forward with everything you are looking for.

“There’s no doubt about it, Andre can play at a higher level, I think a lot of our boys can.

“But what we would like to do is try and have success in this league and move on with this group of players. We’ve only just started building a team here at Luton, the last thing I want is to lose any of them.

“I think the FA Cup helps, of course it does. To get into the third round and get the draw against Wolves, hopefully we will have near on a full house for that and it’s got to help.

“We haven’t even been thinking to try to get past Wolves, but all that money helps, the prize money and certainly the gate.”

And on the players that could head out, he added: “The phone’s rung about two or three of our players. So there might be a few going out, which is positive as well because players need to be playing. We haven’t got a massive squad so there’s not going to be loads going out.

“But at the same time you’ve got to keep it healthy and I don’t want players in and around the building if they’re not going to play.

“It’s important for me and the integrity of the place that we get that bit right and do that quickly. Certainly not everyone will be leaving us. We’ve got a lot of young players and (Adam) Watkins comes into that bracket of still being a young player and still learning his trade.

“So there’s a few that will go out on loan and I’m sure we will have a few takers that would like to take players from us.

“We’ve got some good development players, we’ve got some good senior pros.”

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