New contract extension for Hatters striker Adebayo

Striker Elijah Adebayo has become the latest player to sign a contract extension with Luton following the club’s promotion to the Premier League last season.

The 25-year-old arrived at Kenilworth Road in January 2021 for an undisclosed fee from Walsall, scoring five goals in his first 18 Championship outings.

He then had an excellent maiden full season in the second tier, top-scoring for Town with 17 goals in 42 matches, as his injury in the latter stages of the campaign severely hampered Luton’s bid to make it into the play-off final, beaten 2-1 on aggregate by Huddersfield Town, Adebayo hobbling off the bench in the closing stages of the second leg.

Last season, he formed a formidable partnership with Carlton Morris as Luton reached the top flight, with 10 goals in all competitions, grabbing five assists as well, including setting up Jordan Clark superbly in the play-off final at Wembley as the Hatters went on to beat Coventry City on penalties.

Adebayo has now scored 32 times in 109 appearances, as speaking to the club’s official website following his return to pre-season training last week, he said: “Obviously spirits are high after what happened at the back end of last season, I had a lovely time away, but I think everyone’s excited to be back to kick-off the new campaign.

“My time off was enjoyable, we had the promotion party with the boys which everyone enjoyed and then went away and had a few more relaxing holidays.

“I’ve been back in England for the last couple of weeks and at the training ground as well to try and get ahead.

“It’s good to see everyone here and we all will be trying to fight for a place in the squad.

“The pre-season games are really important to get the minutes, get the fitness levels right, we know we’ve got to be right at it.

“It’s going to be an even tougher league this year than it was last year, so it’s just about getting what you can out of the pre-season games.

"I’m sure we'll be doing some extras, whatever minutes we play, do some extra runs to make sure you are topping ourselves up and hopefully everyone will be ready in August.”

Adebayo, who joins Tom Lockyer, Luke Berry, Carlton Morris, Cauley Woodrow, Reece Burke, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Amari’i Bell in agreeing new contracts since the Hatters won promotion, was also happy to turn up in a better condition than he had done this time 12 months previously, adding: “The year before when we came in I was still carrying a little bit of an injury, so I couldn’t really have a proper pre- season, but I feel fit and healthy this time round luckily.

"To get a good pre-season in my legs would be good and it's about making sure I’m in the right frame of mind, we all are, body-wise and mentally for the start of the season.”