Stoke City blueprint could get Luton Town out of relegation trouble | OneFootball

Stoke City's blueprint for taking bright young players has set an example to Luton Town

After being relegated out of the Premier League last season, few predicted Luton would be staring down the barrel of successive relegations this season, but that's now a distinct possibility for the Hatters.

Such a poor opening half of the season prompted the dismissal of Rob Edwards, which was unthinkable given the success he oversaw beforehand, so much so that Luton gave him a four-year deal before the season started.

Naturally, that made sacking Edwards a costly process, but it was a decision Luton simply had to make or else they were sleepwalking towards League One.

The financial implications of paying off Edwards and his staff will undoubtedly have had a knock-on effect in regards to the transfer window, as it's a near certainty that their budget will have reduced because of that sacking.

That hasn't stopped Luton spending the best part of £5m already this window to recruit Isaiah Jones, but they could look at another Championship club for a different way of doing things in the remainder of the window.

Stoke have been able to recruit quality players without breaking the bank

With new Sporting Director an former Potters fan favourite Jon Walters overseeing recruitment at the club, Stoke have adopted a slightly different recruitment model to that of their rivals.

Stoke have gone down the route of recruiting top quality loan players from Premier League clubs and hoping they can improve their squad in the short term, with Ashley Phillips, Andrew Moran, Tom Cannon and Lewis Koumas all impressing this term.

Although by doing so, they've effectively sacrificed the long-term financial gain for the football club by developing their own players, they've been able to avoid being in the drop zone for most of the season, despite also having to deal with managerial upheaval.

Their model isn't always the best approach to take, as they found out when Leicester decided to recall Stoke's top scorer, Cannon, this month with a view to selling him.

At that point, the loaning club is powerless in terms of what they can do to stop the parent club recalling, but loaning players in January leaves the club loaning in a much stronger position.

That's because the chances of the parent club recalling in the final four months of the campaign are incredibly slim due to the fact they can't cash in, so any success endured in those months is exclusively benefitted by the loaning club.

Luton could look to follow Stoke's recruitment model

Benji Walker (@benjiwalkerphoto)

Ultimately, the position Luton find themselves in is a desperate one and they need to do whatever they can to keep their heads above water this season, and if that has to be sacrificing long-term development for short-term gain, then they should do so.

Lots of Premier League clubs will be looking to loan out their better young players to the Championship in the second half of the season, with the likes of Jayden Danns, someone who is linked with a host of Championship clubs, the type of players Luton could look at.

It's a model that has worked for Stoke as they've been able to bring in players in the short-term who they would never be able to afford in the long-term.

The fact new boss Matt Bloomfield will want to come in and put his own stamp on things reinforces the need to simply patch things up for the rest of the season, as it's impossible to sort a whole squad out in one window.

If he could add a few quality Premier League loans into a squad that is already stacked with top-level players, then Luton would be much better placed to beat the drop.