Luton Town have signed forward, Chiedozie Ogbene on a free transfer from Rotherham United.
Ogbene is Luton’s first signing of the season and will officially join the Hatters on 1 July, following expiration of his contract at Rotherham a day earlier (30 June).
The 26 year-old Republic of Ireland forward was involved in 13 goals for Rotherham last season, in which he scored nine goals and provided four assists in all competitions across 42 senior appearances, and now leaves the Millers having scored 14 goals in 136 appearances.
During his time at Rotherham, Ogbene helped the club to two promotions from League One in 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons, either side of relegation from the Championship in 2020-21 season.
Speaking about his decision to join Luton and play in the top-flight for the first time, Ogbene told lutontown.co.uk that he is “delighted” to join the Hatters and play Premier League football, having began his career with Ireland’s Cork City and Limerick.
A difficult two-season spell at Brentford following – during which he was loaned out to Exeter City in 2018-19 season, before he eventually settled at Rotherham where he steadily progressed as a player.
Ogbene also acknowledged a comment about a former coach at Limerick as he reflected: “My former coach said it would be one in 200,000 – I guess I’m that one!
“My journey is special to me. I come from Rotherham United, who I spent four seasons with and where I achieved some great things with some great people.
“But to be considered to be a Luton Town player with an opportunity to feature in the Premier League was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.”
Ogbene added that he is “just excited” to become part of Luton Town and play in England’s top-flight, as he continued: “I’m just excited to be here. To feature in the Premier League is everyone’s dream and I’m really happy for the opportunity.”
Luton manager, Rob Edwards meanwhile descibed Ogbene as “a really exciting addition”, who has been on the Hatters’ radar in recent months, with Edwards having studied him last season prior to Luton’s 2-0 away win against Rotherham last season.
Explaining his analysis of the Irish forward, Edwards commented: “We got to look at him a lot last season in preparing to play against him and his Rotherham team, and in my opinion he was their best and most threatening player.
“We actually did a reasonable amount of work on stopping him as well as part of our game planning, so you know when you are doing that, he should be on a list for possible recruitment.
“We know we are going to need some real athleticism in the Premier League, and he knows how to use it. He’s flexible, and he’s going to be able to play through the middle as a forward, but also as a wide one, if we wanted to play with wide forwards. He can play a couple of positions.”
Although this is Ogbene’s first experience of Premier League football, Edwards iterated that the 26 year-old has “experience of top level football” from his time at Cork City and Limerick, plus difficult games for Republic of Ireland.
Edwards also believes that Ogbene is still at an age where he can learn to develop his game as he added: “He’s still at a good age where he’s willing to learn and he’s a fantastic human being, we had a brilliant chat and I just loved his personality.
“He’s humble, he comes from a great family background and he’s had to work extremely hard to get where he is now, to get a crack in the Premier League. He should be really proud of himself and we’re delighted to be able to give him that chance.”
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