Hatters snap up Barnsley midfielder Heslop

Luton Town have signed central midfielder Simon Heslop on loan until the end of the season from Championship side Barnsley.

Hatters made the move for the 22-year-old, whom manager Richard Money describes as "Keane-esque", after captain Kevin Nicholls' knee surgery yesterday revealed he'll miss the rest of the campaign and could be out for up to eight months.

Heslop has come through the ranks at Oakwell after joining the Yorkshire when he was 13 and has since spent time on loan at a number of clubs over the past four years at Kidderminster, Halifax, Northwich Victoria, Grimsby and Kettering this year, where he featured in the Poppies' win over the Hatters at Kenilworth Road.

Money said of his latest bit of business: "He's a very experienced midfield player, still young but has played plenty of games.

"He had three months on loan at Kettering earlier in the season. He played in the game at Kenilworth Road where they beat us 1-0 and he's a player that we've considered bringing in for several weeks, but we held fire and tried to give our midfield players as much opportunity as we could.

"I felt that we needed someone else in the Keane mould and hopefully Simon fits that bill. He's match fit and a very athletic boy.

"We've lost Nicholls so there was a need to bring another midfield player in. I think the pitch at the minute is going to determine, to some degree, how the matches will go and I think we need another one in there alongside Keane who can play in that mould. he's all action, very athletic, covers the pitch, likes a tackle, so that's what he's going to bring."

Heslop who has only had one training session at the club, but will go straight into the squad to face Wrexham on Saturday, said: "The manager inquired a couple of days ago and I was interested straight away. I'm in the last couple of months of my contract at Barnsley so I need to be playing games."

Asked if he expects to part ways with the Tykes come the summer, he said: "It's looking that way at the moment. I'm looking for a new club. If I do well here hopefully that will become the case.

"The main aim now is to get promoted. It's exciting to come to a club that has such high ambitions and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

"I want to put myself in the shop window here because I am looking to play League football next year, whether that is with Luton or another club, who knows?"

The midfielder is no stranger to the Blue Square Premier and is optimistic that Town can mount a promotion push.

"We've got a lot of home fixtures and the run-in looks good," he said. "You never know what could happen in the two above [Oxford and Stevenage] start to feel the pressure. We might even get the chance to go up automatically, but we are looking to secure a play-off spot."

"I've been out on loan a lot so I'm used to slotting in and hopefully I'll do that straight away.

"I know what to expect in this league. It's not going to be pretty football all the time. Sometimes you just have to win a battle and three points is all that matters at the end of the day."