EUNAN O’KANE HAS encountered a setback in his bid to complete his recovery from the double leg-break he suffered two years ago.
Luton Town manager Nathan Jones has revealed that the Republic of Ireland international won’t return to competitive action “any time soon”, despite featuring in two recent pre-season friendlies for the Hatters.
Jones described O’Kane as “a wonderful footballer”, adding that the Championship club have “massive hopes for him” after he impressed in a 9-0 win over non-league side Berkhamsted last month.
It was his first outing since he was injured while playing for Luton against Bristol Rovers in September 2018. The appearance raised hopes that the 30-year-old – who’s on loan from Leeds United until next summer – was on course to feature in Luton’s forthcoming Championship campaign, which begins with a trip to Barnsley a week from tomorrow.
However, he’s now coming to terms with having his lengthy lay-off extended, as Jones explained to Luton Today ahead of his side’s Carabao Cup first-round meeting with Norwich City tomorrow.
“Eunan’s a while off,” the Luton Town boss said. “He’s had a little setback with an injury the other day, so we have to reassess. It’s an ongoing thing but there’ll be no rushing.”
O’Kane has won seven senior caps for Ireland, the most recent of which came in a friendly defeat to Mexico in June 2017.
He joined Leeds from Bournemouth in 2016 and was rewarded with a new four-year contract at the end of his first season at Elland Road.
However, the Derry native didn’t feature in the plans of Marcelo Bielsa after the Argentine took over as manager in the summer of 2018.
Jones added: “Eunan will be consulted on all our decisions because there are massive barriers to come over – physical ones, psychological ones – when you’ve had a bad injury.
“He’s a brave lad and we really like him here, so whatever he needs, we’ll give him.”
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