Luton Town: Arsenal transfer deal hands Rob Edwards the perfect Gabriel Osho replacement - View | OneFootball

Reuell Walters could be a bargain successor at centre-back after Osho left the Hatters for Ligue 1

Luton Town need to make some smart decisions in this summer's transfer window to give themselves the best chance of an immediate return to the Premier League next season.

The Hatters, managed by Rob Edwards, did better than many expected them to in the top flight, but it is set to be a summer of change at Kenilworth Road with numerous high-profile exits and arrivals likely as the 41-year-old builds his squad ahead of their return to the Championship.

Town have welcomed new faces to the club following relegation, one being former Brentford midfielder Shandon Baptiste, who arrived on a free transfer in what looks like a smart piece of business.

In terms of outgoings, Ross Barkley has already left to join Aston Villa, while the likes of Dan Potts, Luke Berry, and Fred Onyedinma were released upon the expiry of their contracts.

Luton face a battle to keep a hold of their key men from last season, and along with Barkley, Gabriel Osho recently left the club to join AJ Auxerre in Ligue 1 after a stellar 2023/24 Premier League campaign.

While Osho's departure is an unfortunate one, and he will be sorely missed by Hatters fans, the club have moved quickly to bring in Arsenal youngster Reuell Walters, who seems like a ready-made replacement to slot into his place at right centre-back.

The 19-year-old has joined Luton for a small compensation fee after turning down a new Arsenal deal, and is a right-back by trade, but has also featured heavily at centre-back in the Gunners' youth sides.

If he does slot seamlessly into Luton's backline in the coming season, it will be another one in a long list of great bargains secured by the club in recent years.

Walters is on a path to the top

It was only a matter of time until Walters got his first break in senior football, and this initial step to Luton already seems like a great fit before he has even stepped out onto the turf at Kenilworth Road.

Initially an attacking midfielder, he has long been highly-rated at youth levels, and was offered a deal by both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at just ten-years-old in 2015, later joining the latter.

After four years at Spurs, Walters moved to Manchester United amid interest from a raft of top clubs, but that deal fell through due to registration issues and he later joined Arsenal as an under-16 in October 2020.

He signed his first professional contract with the club in February 2022, and was the only academy player taken on their first-team preseason tour that same summer - he has also been a regular in England's under-18, U-19 and U-20 youth sides since 2021.

Walters made the bench 16 times in the Premier League from March 2023 to February 2024, but did not take to the field once for Mikel Arteta's side, despite being a regular and impressing in the U21's for the last three years.

He has decided to pursue regular first-team football by turning down a new deal at Arsenal to join the Hatters, and could be set to play a key role as Rob Edwards looks to lead his side back to the top-flight.

It was clear to see that he was destined for big things even at such a young age, and this move to Kenilworth Road should allow him to showcase the reason why he has been so coveted and talked about for a number of years.

Edwards needed a player like Walters

Osho's departure was one that Edwards, and most connected to the club, would have foreseen happening long before the summer transfer window opened.

He received constant plaudits throughout his and Luton's debut Premier League season, despite injury issues, and the move to Auxerre was clearly not one he took lightly based off his emotional message penned to the Hatters fans on X.

His exit left a gap for Edwards to fill in his backline this summer, but Walters' arrival means that something that could have turned out to be a pressing issue if left to the end of the window, has instead been dealt with before pre-season fully gets underway.

Walters' signing is just another example of the Hatters moving quickly and smartly in the transfer market - a trend that has turned them from a perennial lower league team to a top-end second-tier side in recent years.

It is a fair assumption to make that he will be playing as a centre-back rather than a right-wing-back in Edwards' system, and while Luton have five centre-backs as well as the 19-year-old on the books as it stands, that number could be down to three by August with Teden Mengi linked away and Tom Lockyer's current plans for the future still unknown.

Luton have picked Walters up for a nominal fee, and his transfer could be looked back upon at the end of the upcoming campaign as a stroke of genius by Edwards and the club if he plays his part in getting them back to the top-flight.