Cohen hails Mpanzu as 'one of the best' as long-serving Luton midfielder makes his comeback after five months out during Hull victory

The manner and strength of character that Town midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu has shown during his time on the sidelines with a knee injury has earned huge praise from assistant boss Chris Cohen.

Mpanzu, 28, had suffered with injury when first arriving at the club back in January 2014, until current boss Nathan Jones took over, transforming his career by ensuring he became more and more durable, eventually racking up over 35 appearances in each of his last six seasons.

However, last term, he suffered an injury in the 2-0 defeat at Huddersfield on April 11, limping off with a knee problem that ended his season prematurely, meaning he could play no part in Town’s ultimately unsuccessful play-off campaign.

Recovering from the problem over the summer, Mpanzu missed the early part of the current campaign as he eventually resumed first team training, and after featuring in two development games, was back in the match-day squad for Friday night’s trip to Hull City.

With Luton 2-0 to the good, he was called on to replace goalscorer Henri Lansbury with 15 minutes remaining, as the popular midfielder came on for what was his 334th appearance in a Hatters shirt, drawing him level with Jake Howells as 16th in the club’s all-time appearance list in the process.

The former West Ham man’s influence at the training ground is almost that of legendary status within the dressing room and despite being restricted to a watching role ahead of his comeback, it appears he still had a huge impact, as Cohen, who said: “He’s honestly one of the best characters I’ve seen in a football club over the course of my professional career which is coming up to 20 years, in terms of the positive influence he has on everyone around him.

"He’s always upbeat, I’m sure at times he would have struggled because I had a lot of injuries myself, it can be a tough place in terms of it can be quite lonesome away from the group, but you never would have recognised it.

"He was still helping the younger players, helping the players that have played for a long time.

“All the staff love him here, all the players love him here, all the supporters love him here, he’s as popular as he deserves to be as he has a positive influence on the club every single day.”

Having the midfielder back and available now for a run of 10 games in just over a month before the next international break is also a huge boost for Town, as Cohen continued: “He’s a huge influence on the squad.

"He obviously knows the club through and through, he’s been here such a long time and he’s a real positive influence on the pitch and off the pitch.

"Although you can still be that when you’re injured, it’s much more difficult, so we’ve seen the work that Pelly has put in over the course of the last four or five months, six months, whatever it’s been and everyone was delighted to see him come on and have a real good impact against Hull.

“He secured the centre of the pitch for us, did everything that good, experienced central midfielders do to see out a game and everyone, I’m sure all the Luton fans as well, was delighted to see him back on the pitch.”

Although Mpanzu’s return could see him battle it out with team-mate Lansbury for a place in the centre of Luton’s midfield, the former Arsenal youngster was thrilled to see him fit and firing once more, adding: “It’s nice to see him back and we can maybe share the load a bit and take a bit of weight off my back.

"I like to see him doing well, I like to see the boys and the team do well, if I’m in the team or out of the team, as long as the team are doing well that’s all that matters.

“We’ve got a nice little run going now and it’s just about moving forward.”