Hatters boss tips 'brilliant' Luton defender to be future captain material

Town boss Rob Edwards has labelled centre half Teden Mengi as future captain material after he produced yet another starring role against AFC Bournemouth on Saturday.

​The 21-year-old only moved to Kenilworth Road in August after leaving Premier League giants Manchester United following more than a decade at Old Trafford, opting to make a permanent switch to Luton. Since arriving in Bedfordshire, the centre half has been in terrific form, playing 25 top flight matches and making 4.6 clearances per game, 1.9 interceptions, 1.8 tackles and 0.9 blocks as well, winning his first ever England U21s cap in the process too.

Saturday saw Mengi starting against the Cherries once more, as it looked like his afternoon would be over twice in the first period, when he went down holding his knee, requiring treatment on both occasions. Following some attention from the medical staff, the defender was able to shrug off the knocks and resume his efforts in keeping out the visiting attackers throughout the 90 minutes, also bursting forward when possible as Town managed to restrict the Cherries attacker to shots from range during their 2-1 victory.

Discussing his performance, Edwards said: “He’s 21-years-old, he’s growing and growing every single game. For him to be learning, adjusting, making mistakes but getting better in the Premier League, is really difficult for a centre back. He’s a brilliant man, he’s going to be a future captain, there’s no doubt about that.

"I thought the fact that he played through some pain and performed brilliantly just shows everything you need to know about him. Reece Burke as well as Burkey was missing the other day and had to go off at half time against Tottenham. So even the fit ones are clinging on a little bit at the moment.”

Skipper Carlton Morris added of his team-mate, who has been a huge reason why Town find themselves in with a chance of staying up this term, able to stay fit during a host of defensive injuries: “Teden Mengi is an absolute warrior. He goes down twice, easily could have come off, but shows his heart and his passion to continue and play on when we needed him most, so it’s huge.”