Irish international defender is closing in on a return for the Hatters.
The town centre half has almost fully recovered from a virus contracted during the preseason.
Luton defender Mark McGuinness is nearing a return to the Town starting lineup after recovering from a virus that sidelined him for much of the Hatters’ pre-season campaign.
The 24-year-old, who appeared 44 times for the Hatters last season after joining from Cardiff City, was forced to fly home from the club’s training camp in Slovenia and missed the team’s subsequent friendly matches while recovering.
However, the centre back was able to come off the bench and play the final two minutes of Friday night’s League One opener against AFC Wimbledon, as well as another appearance for the U21s in a 2-1 victory over Leyton Orient on Wednesday.
Although he will undoubtedly be included in Town’s squad for their first away trip to Peterborough United this weekend, the Irish international is unlikely to start because the back three of Christ Makosso, Mads Andersen, and Kal Naismith have looked solid and secure thus far.
Bloomfield mentioned the defender, saying, “He’s not far away, Mac. He missed two weeks due to an illness, a virus, so he has been in his bed, in a hotel room in Slovenia, we had to fly him back, and now he is at home.
“He missed a period of time, he was really quite rough for a bit, he lost some weight and we just had to give him time to build his body weight back up, build his sharpness.
I think Christ and Mads and Kal have been very good in pre-season so there’s no need to rush Mark and take a risk with him when the others have trained incredibly hard, performing, I believe, particularly well.
“Mark went and did another hour today (Wednesday), and he’s getting much closer.
He’s a key player for us, a strong character, and someone I admire greatly. He’s a very diligent and respectful young man, despite the fact that he’s approaching his prime. He’s been around for what feels like forever because he broke through so young, but it’s great for us that he’s finally getting back into shape.”
With McGuinness’ availability approaching, and Nigel Lonwijk, a Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee who was played out of position as a wingback against the Dons, Bloomfield believes it will only benefit those already in the squad. He added:
“Competition for places is critical. “We can’t have 11 players who are guaranteed and others who aren’t.” We’re going to have to make sure that we show the training and match performance, so if you earned the shirt and deserve to keep it, there has to be that element for us.
I have always tried to be fair in my management, and I do not want to give anyone special treatment.
I believe that a fair fight for the shirt improves everyone’s competition and performance levels.
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