Luton Town Football Club can confirm our retained and released list following the conclusion of the 2023/24 Premier League season.
Talks over a new contract are ongoing with defender Gabe Osho, while the Club has exercised its option to extend goalkeeper James Shea’s career at Kenilworth Road into an eighth season.
The 32-year-old signed for the Town as a free agent in the summer of 2017 following his release from AFC Wimbledon and has played a key role in the Hatters’ three promotions from League Two to the Premier League.
He made his 108th appearance for the Club when he was introduced as a late substitute for his Premier League debut against Fulham on the final day of the season, receiving a standing ovation from the Kenilworth Road crowd.
Long-serving duo Dan Potts and Luke Berry, widemen Fred Onyedinma and Elliot Thorpe and forward Admiral Muskwe will leave the Club at the end of their contracts.
Dan Potts was a John Still signing in the summer of 2015 following his release by West Ham. He made his name at left-back in the back-to-back promotion-winning teams under Nathan Jones and Mick Harford, before playing as a left-sided centre-half more regularly in the Championship.
Now 30, he leaves with 12 goals to his name from 216 appearances over nine seasons, the most notable being seven goals during the 2017-18 League Two promotion campaign, including a prolific spell in which he netted five times in nine matches!
A towering header away at Oxford was significant in the early stages of the League One title charge, before he starred in seven of the nine ‘Lockdown’ matches that saw the Hatters pull off the Great Escape in the first Championship season.
On our greatest day at Wembley last May, Dan wore the captain’s armband to win two iconic coin tosses – the first to ensure the penalty shoot-out would be taken in front of 36,500 Luton fans, the second to go first – before calmly slotting home what proved to be the winning spot-kick to secure his third promotion as a Hatter, this time to the Premier League.
The Club has agreed not to exercise its option on Luke Berry in order to allow the 31-year-old midfielder to explore opportunities to play regular football elsewhere.
Arriving from Cambridge United in late August 2017, the former Barnsley man proved a stellar signing in League Two when he got off the mark with a hat-trick in a 7-1 win over Stevenage. He went on to net eight times in 42 appearances before a broken ankle at Easter brought a premature end to his first promotion-winning campaign.
The fans’ favourite returned to contribute to the League One title win, scoring three times in 24 appearances, then continued his knack of arriving in the right place, at the right time to net 13 times as a Championship player before, like Potts, firing in a crucial penalty at Wembley to earn his third promotion.
Luke would go on to write his name into Luton Town history when he became the first player to score in all four of English football’s top divisions for the Hatters with his late equaliser against Nottingham Forest, and he departs with a record of 26 goals from 184 appearances.
Everyone at Kenilworth Road would like to wish Dan and Luke every success in the next chapter in their careers and thank them for the significant roles they have played in our rise from League Two to the Premier League.
Fred Onyedinma joined from Wycombe Wanderers in the summer of 2021, and immediately endeared himself to the fans with a goal and two assists on his debut in an opening day win over Peterborough.
The 27-year-old made 21 appearances in the Championship promotion-winning season, appearing as a sub at Wembley in the play-off final win over Coventry, then spent the first half of this season on loan at Championship club Rotherham before returning due to injury in January.
Once fit, Fred was added to the 25-man squad in place of Tom Lockyer and went onto make eight Premier League appearances. He leaves with 60 appearances and three goals to his name.
Admiral Muskwe made 26 appearances after signing from Leicester City in 2021, scoring twice for the Hatters, while Elliot Thorpe arrived late in the same summer as a free agent following his release by Tottenham Hotspur, and departs having made six appearances.
We wish Fred, Admiral and Elliot all the very best for their future careers and thank them for playing their part in our promotion to the Premier League.
Issa Kaboré and Albert Sambi Lokonga will return to their parent clubs at the end of their loan spells, and we would like to thank both players for their wholehearted and significant contributions to the Club during their season with us in the Premier League.
The loan deals away from Kenilworth Road for Allan Campbell, Ryan Giles, Tom Holmes, John McAtee, Aribim Pepple, Dion Pereira, Joe Taylor, Jack Walton and Louie Watson will expire at the end of June.
In the Under-21 squad, extended terms have been accepted by Jack Bateson, Josh Odell-Bature, Jacob Pinnington and Dominic Dos Santos Martins, while Josh Allen, Tobias Braney, Oliver Camis, Archie Heron, Millar Matthews-Lewis and Ben Tompkins have been released.
From the Under-18s, two second-year scholars – Claude Kayibanda and Jack Lorentzen-Jones – have accepted their offers of professional contracts, while Tyrell Giwa’s scholarship has been extended for a third year.
Under-16s who have been offered first-year scholarships are Archie Shepherd, Benedict Benagr, Charlie Booth, Christian Chigozie, Harry Fox, Kyron Roberts-Edema, Leon Routh, Lucas Thomas and Samuel Hincapie Alfonso.
Leaving the academy at the end of their scholarships are Will Houghton, Max Scott and Marcus Warren.
We thank all of the players who are leaving us for their service to the Club at all levels, and wish them the very best for their future careers.
