Luton Town transfer and rumour tracker: Luton, Stoke & Birmingham in race to sign Steve Cook

With defensive reinforcements desperately needed, Hatters have been clamouring for some action with regards to a defender being linked to Luton Town. According to reports from Lyal Thomas at Sky Sports, Luton Town are currently in a race with Birmingham and Stoke (who are trying to replace outgoing Harry Souttar) to sign Steve Cook, the experienced defender from Nottingham Forest. With Nottingham Forest trying to sign defender Felipe from Athletico Madrid in an attempt to stay in the Premier League, Forest need to make room in their squad, with Steve Cook being given the go ahead as it's unlikely he will break into the first team with all the shiny new talent around the City Ground.

Steve Cook, 31, has already played 12 matches for Nottingham Forest this season, he is adept at using both feet and has a lot of experience, prior to joining Nottingham Forest, he enjoyed 10 years at AFC Bournemouth, participating in multiple promotions, playing 380 times scoring 21 goals. The verdict is that this would be a stunning signing for Luton Town, if we can pull it off, the initial feeling is that with Birmingham and Stoke also in the race, both clubs albeit in worse positions in the Championship table, are both able to offer higher wages which is likely to tempt Steve Cook to join their causes. For us, signing Cook would be a major piece of business and could be the difference between making the playoffs and missing out this season, considering the competition and congestion in the top half of the Championship.