Dewsbury-Hall joins the Hatters on loan after signing a new City deal
...AND JAMES GOES TO BARNSLEY
HIGHLY-RATED Leicester City midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has joined Luton Town on loan for the season – but not before penning a new four-year contract at the King Power Stadium.
The Shepshed-born academy graduate has been given the chance to show off his quality in the Championship after a successful but brief spell on loan at Blackpool last term, where he scored four goals in 10 games.
After further impressing in pre-season, the 22-year-old then made his first start for City in the 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Arsenal last month.
City have shown their faith in Dewsbury-Hall’s talents by signing him to a new deal that will keep him at the King Power Stadium until 2024.
For the first of those years, he will attempt to help Luton continue their rise up the Championship table, with the Hatters enjoying an excellent start to the campaign with three wins from four.
Dewsbury-Hall is the fourth City player to leave on loan to the Championship this transfer window, with George Hirst at Rotherham, Josh Knight at Wycombe, and with Matty James moving to Barnsley on the final day of the domestic transfer window. More than three years on from a fruitful spell at Oakwell following a recovery from the first of his serious injuries, James is now returning to the Yorkshire side, signing on loan until January.
It has been an Achilles problem that has kept James on the sidelines for much of the past two seasons, the 29-year-old making just two appearances in that time.
But he was fit to feature as an unused substitute during the Project Restart fixtures, and is now up to speed again, with the Tykes giving him a chance to show his quality.
In the second half of the 2016-17 season, James played 18 matches for Barnsley, missing only one game, and that earned him a place back in the City side when he returned after the summer.
After sealing his move, James said: “It’s fantastic. There’s a lot that has happened over the past couple of years with certain things, personally.
“So I’m excited, looking forward to it and can’t wait to get started.
“It almost happened in January, but it just didn’t come to light in the end.
“We’ve been in talks over the last few days to get back, get some games under my belt and hopefully help the team.”
At time of writing, Croatian centreback Filip Benkovic was expected to be moving on loan to Championship side Cardiff.