Luton Town urged to avoid deal for 6-goal ace - it 'would be an abysmal' transfer | OneFootball

Devante Cole has been linked with a potential switch to Kenilworth Road

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Luton Town have been urged to avoid pursuing a transfer deal for Port Vale striker, Devante Cole, in what remains of the winter transfer window.

It has been an extremely frustrating return to League One for the Hatters, who were dubbed as the division's pre-season title favourites after previously suffering back-to-back relegations from the Premier League, through the Championship and into the third tier for the first time in six years.

A change in management from CEO, Gary Sweet, has also been unable to yield a consistent run of results, with Jack Wilshere currently the man in the Kenilworth Road hotseat after replacing Matt Bloomfield back in October.

After seeing themselves go to within a whisker of the League One play-off places with a 2-1 success over Stevenage back on January 10th, the Bedfordshire side have seen their chances of reaching the top six at the end of the season take a sizeable hit within the past week.

After earning a 2-2 draw against second-place Lincoln City at Kenilworth Road last Saturday, Wilshere's side have suffered back-to-back 1-0 away defeats to Plymouth Argyle and Huddersfield Town, and are now six points adrift of the play-offs with 18 games remaining.

As such, frustration continues to be the buzzword most associated with Luton at this moment in time, with a squad full of high-level ability and experience still yet to mount a sustained promotion bid, despite two recent loan additions to the squad in the form of Kasey Palmer and Emilio Lawrence from Hull City and Manchester City.

However, whilst fitness and a lack of goals from within his centre-forward department has been an issue, Wilshere has been urged to put a pin in his pursuit of Cole by Football League World's Luton Town fan pundit, Simon Mills.

Although it has been an extremely dismal return to League One for the Valiants, Cole has remained a key figure in North Staffordshire under former boss, Darren Moore, and the current man in the Vale Park hotseat, Jon Brady.

After Football League World first revealed that the signing was set to take place, the former Manchester City academy graduate signed a three-year contract with his current employers after spending 12 months with West Bromwich Albion.

Although he was limited to just 16 appearances and failed to score during his time at The Hawthorns, the 30-year-old has been able to score six times in 19 League One outings for Vale, who are now 10 points adrift at the foot of the table following results in midweek.

Cole's overall record of 71 goals in 268 appearances at this level - the majority of which came for Barnsley - is rather respectable. However, Mills believes that Luton should not turn their attention to the forward, whilst also questioning the club's decision to loan Lasse Nordas to SC Heerenveen.

"I think this would be an abysmal signing for Luton Town Football Club," Mills stated to FLW.

"I think with tensions running high between the fanbase and the board, that this would do absolutely nothing to settle those concerns.

"If the plan was to bring in Cole, why on earth did we send Lasse Nordas out on loan?," he questioned.

"Cole, for me, doesn't offer anything more than Nordas could have offered us," Mills claimed. "It reeks of a panic buy. It's not good enough, and it just shows that in regards to recruitment, Luton Town Football Club have entirely lost their way.

"We need a huge look at the recruitment team and the head of recruitment should be sacked."

Luton Town face competition for Devante Cole despite Hatters transfer criticism

Hours after Luton's interest in the striker was made public, FLW exclusively revealed that the Hatters are set to face strong competition in a transfer battle for Cole's services.

Indeed, all of Huddersfield, Bolton Wanderers and Bradford City are also poised to sell their projects to the experienced figure, with all three clubs currently occupying a place in the play-offs, whilst Luton and the West Yorkshire side are also interested in Jake Beesley of Burton Albion, with such developments also exclusively called by FLW.

It could be a huge blow for Luton if one of the Trotters, Bantams or Terriers were to edge them out in the race for Cole, and he started firing one of the promotion contenders towards success, despite the criticism this potential signing has been met with.

Furthermore, Luton have also struggled for a regular source of goals from their centre-forwards so far this season, with Jerry Yates and Nahki Wells only able to score four between them in over 40 combined appearances thus far.