EXCLUSIVE: Wilkinson never wanted to leave Hatters

The 25-year-old was a surprise departure from the club on Friday, heading to Stevenage after finding out he wasn’t going to be in new manager Nathan Jones’ plans.

Speaking exclusively to the News/Gazette about his exit, Wilkinson said: “I loved every minute of my time there, and am gutted not to still be there, but I totally understand where they’re going.

“I wasn’t in the team and I just thought I’m going to train and try to get back in the team.

“I had a phone call on the Wednesday that my agent had spoken to the club, I wasn’t going to play as much as I would have liked and basically that Stevenage wanted me.

“So I thought if I’m not really going to be playing as much as I was then I may as well go and play games, because I need to be playing games.”

The defender did appreciate the honesty shown by Town’s new boss though as he continued: “I spoke to the manager and he went through everything with me.

“He said the team he’s picked to start with was a team he sort of knew because he didn’t know everyone at the club when he came in, which was totally fair enough and I totally understood where he was coming from.

“He said, ‘when I want to bring someone in, you’re one of them where clubs would take you and you would be the person to go out and others to come in.’

“That’s fair enough, that’s football for you. I totally understand where he’s coming from, he wants to put his own stamp on it, and I wish him all the best in that.

“It was a surprise, of course it was. You can show so much in training, but it’s never the same as a game, so I would have absolutely loved to have played for him and still be at Luton now.”