"He's an easy target" - Claim dropped on £10m Luton Town star Mark McGuinness | OneFootball

FLW's Luton Town fan pundit discussed Mark McGuinness, who arrived for a substantial fee from Cardiff City last summer

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…

It has been a miserable old campaign for Luton Town, who find themselves very much in the midst of a Championship relegation dogfight despite having played Premier League football just last season.

The seeming advantages of parachute payments and a squad which, by and large, earned a fair degree of plaudits in spite of relegation, however, have not come to Luton's aid this term.

The Hatters saw their hopes of survival boosted with a crucial 2-1 victory at relegation rivals Cardiff City on Tuesday evening - their second win on the road all season - but are still second from bottom and two points shy of the Bluebirds, who are positioned 21st at this moment in time.

The six-pointer affair saw a return to the Welsh capital for McGuinness, who joined Luton from Cardiff last summer. There has been much discourse surrounding the exact upfront fee Luton shelled out for the central defender; reports have suggested the deal could eventually rise to £10 million, if a variety of add-ons are met, after Cardiff stood firm to collect an eight-figure return, but is initially far below that sum.

McGuinness has emerged as a polarising figure at Kenilworth Road, with certain supporters firing criticism towards the 24-year-old.

He's yet to vindicate Luton's eventual investment, of course, and has also been a part of the Championship's third-poorest defence this term, meaning certain criticism is inevitable, but there is an argument to suggest McGuinness has become an easy target due to the fee the club forked out for his services.

Luton Town transfer verdict offered on Mark McGuinness

FLW asked our resident Hatters fan pundit, Simon Mills, whether he believes Luton have overpaid for McGuinness given their current league position.

But despite the upfront fee likely being not-insignificant in of itself, coupled with its potential to rise to £10 million and the fact the deal was brokered with an unlikely, yet sure-fire relegation rival, Simon has defended McGuinness and does not believe the Arsenal academy graduate represents poor business from his side.

"From what I can gather, the true fee for McGuinness is quite a bit lower [than £10 million up-front]," Simon told FLW.

"I think it's actually more around the £5 million mark, which, as is custom with Luton Town's transfer strategy, a whole bunch of add-ons and goals that will increase the fee eventually.

"I actually think McGuinness hasn't been one of the bad players. He's been pretty solid, he's made a few errors but he's still only 24 years old.

"When he's got the right partner next to him, he does do much better, such as when Kal Naismith partners with him. I haven't got too many bad things to say about McGuinness, I think he's an easy target due to our poor season and he's a defender.

Mark McGuinness will surely leave Luton Town if relegation happens

Although McGuinness is yet to hit the heights at Luton, he's one of a number of players who will surely leave Matt Bloomfield's side if the worst happens and they suffer a stunning relegation to League One.

The Republic of Ireland international is simply too good to be playing third-tier football and his plethora of Championship experience at a relatively young age should make for no shortage of suitors in any such event, although Luton would hardly like to see him move on and there is a feeling that the best is very much yet to come from McGuinness.

At 24, he has time on his side and should still be expected to come good in due course, but one must wonder how funds could have been better allocated during the off-season - it was a big gamble at the time which is yet to pay off.