Portsmouth loanee Millenic Alli's Luton Town future in doubt following Jack Wilshere admission
Millenic Alli proved a useful addition to the Pompey ranks over the second half of the season - now there’s doubts around his future at parent club Luton Town
Jack Wilshire has cast further doubt on Millenic Alli’s long-term Luton Town future.
Uncertainty around the £1.5m winger’s Hatters longevity has long existed after he was allowed to join Pompey on loan for the second half of their latest Championship campaign.
However, the Luton boss has plunged his Kenilworth Road career into even more suspense by admitting departures remain on the cards despite the club publishing their retained list last week.
Fellow Blues loanee Jacob Brown and ex-Pompey winger Cohen Bramall were among those told their Luton stays had come to an end and were free to leave the club upon the expiry of their contracts.
Alli, who was one of 21 Kenilworth Road players on loan elsewhere over the latter part of the campaign, saw his name appear under the ‘Contracted (Over-24s)’ catgegory of the Hatters’ retained list.
But according to Wilshere, some of those loanees who have since returned to the club are not part of hislong-term plans and will be leaving this summer.
Jack Wilshere knows the type of players he wants at Luton
Alli featured 21 times for the Blues and helped them retain their Championship status with two goals and an assist.
The Republic of Ireland man was allowed to move to Fratton Park after falling out of favour under Wilshere following 22 appearances, one goal and three assists over the first half of the season.
The forward revealed to The News in April how he was loving his time at PO4, following a difficult period at Kenilworth Road, despite a dip in form during the latter stages of his stay.
He admitted it was ‘great to feel wanted’. And that’s something he can’t guarantee following his return to his parent club.
‘There’s some players on there (the retained list) we retain because they’re under contract,’ said Wilshere.
“But we’ll be looking to move on this summer because I think one thing we done really well, the club, in January, the recruitment team and Gary (Sweet – CEO) and Moons (James Mooney – operations director), we identified really quickly what type of players we want here, what we want the culture to look like.
“We want hungry players that really want to be here and help the team. I came out and said that.
‘Some players will be coming back from loan, but we’ll be looking to move on.’
Alli was one of 10 players allowed to leave Luton on loan in January. Jerry Yates, Brown, Christ Makosso and Lasse Nordås were among the other high-profile departures.
Speaking about Brown, Wilshere added: ‘We sent him out (to Pompey) knowing that there was an option we could have kept him, but again, we want to move in a different direction.’