Luton Town have had their fair share of brilliant signings in recent years.
Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Jordan Clark, and Carlton Morris are just a few who have lit up Kenilworth Road in recent years after signing for the Hatters.
However, clubs can sometimes make mistakes, and transfers don’t always work out as planned for various reasons.
With that in mind, at Football League World, we have detailed five of the biggest transfer flops at Luton Town since the year 2000.
Carlos Mendes Gomes
In 2021, Carlos Mendes Gomes had just come off the back of an exciting season for Morecambe as he netted 15 goals for the Shrimpers, including a play-off final winner against Newport County.
The Championship Hatters won the race to sign the 22-year-old as they forked out £500,000 for the exciting winger.
Unfortunately, Nathan Jones wasn’t keen on giving the attacker much of a chance, so the youngster was mostly restricted to brief appearances off the bench. This meant he only featured in 14 matches during the 2021-22 season, managing just one goal and one assist.
A solitary cup appearance the following campaign was followed by a move to Fleetwood on loan. Since then, he has made minimal steps forward, and he capped off his time at Kenilworth Road by making a move to Bolton Wanderers for a fee believed to be in the region of £300,000.
Plenty of hype but very little payoff.
Sam Parkin
While his record of 10 goals in 56 games could be worse, the £340,000 fee that Luton forked out to sign Sam Parkin left them feeling somewhat shortchanged by his actions on the pitch.
In a tumultuous time at Kenilworth Road, the striker suffered a season-ending injury just ten games into his first campaign with them in the Championship.
Relegated to League One, Parkin would make his return but once again an early-season incident meant he would have to wait until January to feature. With off-field issues impacting the club, Luton and Parkin suffered back-to-back relegations, leaving them in the fourth tier of English football.
Now two levels below where he first signed for the Hatters, it was expected that Parkin would score goals for fun. That he did with three in his first four, but unfortunately, financial issues meant that he had to depart on a short-term loan to Leyton Orient.
Upon his return, he became a squad player, but his contribution wasn’t sufficient to prevent the team from being relegated for the third consecutive season. This saw him leave upon the expiry of his contract and capped off a disappointing three years at the club.
Danny Spiller
Although Danny Spiller signed on a free from Gillingham, he may go down as one of the most frustrating signings ever for Luton Town.
After a serious injury cut short his time with the Gills, Paul Buckle, then the manager, signed Spiller on a two-year contract in hopes that the midfielder could help guide the team back to League Two.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, as he didn’t feature in a single game that season as he was on the operating table for most of it following an Achilles tendon injury. After just one year, the Hatters tore up his contract and Spiller never played professional football ever again.
Just a year later, under the management of John Still, Luton did achieve their goal of promotion to the fourth tier, as they won the Conference with an unbelievable 101 points.
Adam Boyd
In 2006/07, Luton made the decision to sign Hartlepool United’s Adam Boyd, who just two seasons prior had bagged 22 goals in 45 games at League One level.
Having spent £500,000 on the Pools striker, expectations were high, but unfortunately, he just didn’t live up to the promise.
A mixture of a lack of fitness and struggling to adapt to the tier above plagued the attacker, who never got a firm run of games in the side.
Boyd did manage to score one league goal for the Hatters in the Championship, which came during a meeting with Queens Park Rangers, but that was as good as it got, and he finished the 2006/07 campaign with just one goal in 18 league matches.
| Adam Boyd Championship 2006-07 Championship Season (Transfermarkt) | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 19 |
| Minutes | 619 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Assists | 1 |
After just one year, his contract was terminated, and he moved on to sign for Leyton Orient, where he fared much better.
Aaron Jarvis
In 2017, while competing in League Two, the Hatters decided to take a chance and signed a 19-year-old striker named Aaron Jarvis for an undisclosed fee.
Jarvis had recently enjoyed a promising season at Basingstoke Town, where he scored 14 goals in 47 appearances in the Southern Premier Division, the seventh tier of English football.
Albeit a big step up, he arrived at Kenilworth Road with somethingc of a reputation.
Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out for Jarvis, who was limited to game time in the EFL Trophy and other cup competitions.
Loan spells at Falkirk and Boreham Wood did little to improve his chances in the Luton side, with the striker unable to bag during either of his temporary moves.
At the end of the 2018-19 season, he returned to Bedfordshire and was released from his contract, with Luton deeming his potential surplus to requirements. He left the club having scored a meagre two goals in 14 appearances.
Now, aged 26, the forward is plying his trade at Yeovil Town in the National League following a stellar spell at Torquay United where he bagged 24 goals in 58 games.
