LUTON TOWN MANAGER Nathan Jones believes Eunan O’Kane can be a valuable asset to the Championship club following the Republic of Ireland international’s return to action on Saturday.
In a pre-season friendly against non-league side Berkhamsted, O’Kane came off the bench at half-time to play for the first time since he was sidelined by injury in September 2018.
While on loan at Luton from Leeds United, the midfielder suffered a double leg-break in a game against Bristol Rovers.
Although he remains contracted to Premier League-bound Leeds for one more season, O’Kane returned to Luton earlier this year and is due to stay until next summer.
The 30-year-old had a hand in two of the three goals that fellow Ireland international James Collins scored in a 9-0 win over Berkhamsted.
“He’s a wonderful, wonderful footballer,” Jones said of O’Kane afterwards. “We have massive, massive hopes for him, so it’s great to see him back.
“He’s a little way off it in terms of the intensity levels he needs and the strength and the mobility, but it was nice to see him get minutes. The range of passing he has and his radar is quite frightening.”
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.
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