Irish U21 international discusses his switch to Kenilworth Road
Sign up for the latest Luton Town team news, anaylsis and more
Sign up
Thank you for signing up!
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Luton Today, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Submitting...
New Luton signing Josh Keeley revealed that a glowing recommendation from former Town stopper Dean Brill was a huge reason as to why he agreed to leave Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur and sign for the Hatters yesterday.
After coming through the ranks at League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic, Keeley then moved to north London in July 2022 at the age of 19, where he worked with Brill who was then a goalkeeping coach at Spurs’ academy, soon becoming head of academy goalkeeping. Keeley initially played for the club’s Premier League 2 side, before a loan stint at National League outfit Barnet, then excelling during his season-long stint with Leyton Orient last term.
His time with the O’s alerted the attentions of the Hatters and once Belgian international Thomas Kaminski agreed to move to newly-promoted Championship side Charlton Athletic earlier this month, and Jack Walton also likely to leave, it meant Town were in the hunt for a new number one, which they now have with the addition of Keeley.
It was a big call for the 22-year-old to move away from Spurs on a permanent basis, even if he hadn’t made a first team appearance during his three years with the club, but some words from Brill, who played 109 times for the Hatters over two spells in Bedfordshire, himself a product of the Town academy, also in goal when Luton won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy back in 2009, played a big part in his decision.
Speaking to the Hatters’ official website, Keeley said: “I'm absolutely delighted, it happened quite quickly as well to be fair, but now that's over the line I'm more than grateful to be here, given it’s such a massive club with such a big history. I’ve also had some coaches who have been here over the years and them just telling me how big and great the club is, it just turned my head completely and I was more than happy to sign. Dean Brill, my goalie coach, he persuaded me to come. He told me that he's got a statue!
"It was easy and it wasn’t. I went there when I was 19-years-old. It was my first kind of taste of moving abroad and getting away from my family. I grew very close to a lot of the players and a lot of the staff there. They took me in, I was a young boy coming over to a new country. They took me under their wing, I learned so, so much and I'll be forever grateful for them. But there always comes a time in your career when you’ve got to move on and I felt now was the time and it’s now time to kick on.“
Meanwhile, also getting to work with former Manchester United, Celtic and Mansfield stopper Kevin Pilkington, who is goalkeeping coach at Kenilworth Road, was something that the Irish U21 international wanted to do as well, as he added: “I’ve spoken to him for the last two days now. Dean Brill knows him quite well, he’s a man with a big career behind him and it’s going to be great to learn from him. I’m really looking forward to it, I can’t wait. I’ve heard a lot of good things and I'm just buzzing to get to know everyone and get to play.”