Josh Neufville

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Former Yeovil Town loanee Josh Neufville may be loaned out again next season by his parent club Luton Town.

The speedy forward is one of three young prospects which Hatters’ boss and former Yeovil defender Nathan Jones is considering sending out on loan to get more experience.

Josh Neufville. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Jones admitted there had been “a lot of interest” in the 21-year-old who was recalled early from his second spell at Huish Park one game before the end of last season.

He also said that Dion Pererira, who had an ill-fated one-game spell in Somerset before returning to Kenilworth Road, may also be loaned out after a two-month stint at League Two side Bradford City last season.

Speaking to LutonToday, Jones said: “We’ve got a lot of young players here, we’re really establishing the football club and with Paul Hart’s appointment in the academy, the Under-23 group is now stronger.

“That will filter all the way through the age groups, there’s a clear way of thinking now with the academy, it’s aligned with what we do, and it’s strengthened all that.

“By doing that we can afford to one, keep young players in the building and not necessarily let them go out on loan, but there’s some at the point that they may need to.

“Dion Pereira may need a loan, Elliot Thorpe may need a loan, Josh Neufville, we’ve had a lot of interest in him, but if they don’t go out then they’ll be in and around our group and get game time in the 23s as well.

“So we’re in a real good position at the minute and we want to continue to get better.”

Speaking to the Gloverscast last month, Yeovil Town boss Chris Hargreaves said he had spoken with Neufville about making a third return.

He said: “I have spoken to Josh Neufville about a potential return to the club. With him, the manager will want him to go to the next level and he probably wants to show himself in pre-season, but he knows if there’s any glimmer of him coming back, he’s coming back.

“The door is open. The way he performed in some of the game, he looked like he gained from being here, so I would love him to be here.”

Neufville played 11 times in his second spell, scoring the winner in a 2-1 home win over eventual champions Stockport County, after returning to Huish Park at the end of March.

His previous stay in the 2020-21 season lasted five months and saw him score five times in 31 appearances.

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New Yeovil Town manager Chris Hargreaves has revealed he has spoken with former Glovers’ favourite Ed Upson and loanee Josh Neufville about potential returns to Huish Park.

But, speaking on the latest edition of the Gloverscast the new boss said that neither player had committed to making the move.

Chris Hargreaves.

The new boss worked with Upson, a star of the club’s surge to the Championship from a decade ago, when Hargreaves was on the coaching staff at Bristol Rovers, and has spoken to him since his release by Stevenage.

Hargreaves said: “I know Ed, I worked with him at Rovers and had a great relationship with him and encouraged him to do what he does well.

“We have discussed things, I don’t know at this stage and that is for a number of reasons, one being the number of midfielders we already have.

“I like Ed as a person and a player, so I would never rule anything out. He’s someone I hold in high regard.”

Neufville is a huge fans’ favourite after two impressive loans from Luton Town and a recent social media post hinting at a possible return got fans’ excited about the prospective.

Hargreaves confirmed that he has spoken to him about coming back, but knows the 21-year-old will be looking to catch the eye of Nathan Jones, the ex-Glovers’ defender in charge at the Championship club.

The manager said: “I have spoken to Josh Neufville about a potential return to the club. With him, the manager will want him to go to the next level and he probably wants to show himself in pre-season, but he knows if there’s any glimmer of him coming back, he’s coming back.

“The door is open. The way he performed in some of the game, he looked like he gained from being here, so I would love him to be here.”

The club’s Head of Player Development, Marcus Stewart, is a former Yeovil Town team-mate of both Jones and Luton first-team coach Chris Cohen and Hargreaves was keen to point out that there was a connection there.

He said: “Marcus knows Nathan, I have spoken to Josh, Marcus has spoken to Nathan, so there is dialogue between everyone.

“I speak to Daz (Darren Sarll, Terry (Skiverton), I have spoken to a lot of people about the club and I’m hoping to gain something from everybody.

“I look at what Gary (Johnson) achieved with this club and I have been part of teams like that and what a fantastic thing to turn up and see yourself on the side of the stadium.

“I have to draw off those legends and they are all welcome, I don’t buy in to ‘those are the old times’, come through the door, let’s all be successful together.”

You can listen to the new Glovers’ boss talk about his hopes for the new season, his thoughts on his coaching staff, players and the future of winger Charlie Wakefield on the latest podcast, available – here.

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Josh Neufville. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

A social media post by Luton Town winger Josh Neufville has hinted at a possible return to Yeovil Town.

The 21-year-old, who became a fans’ favourite at Huish Park after two successful loan spells over the past two seasons, posted a selection of his highlights in green and white on his Instagram on Sunday night.

On top of the post is the words: Unfinished business.

In the comments, fellow loanee Jack Robinson replied: “What a player ytfc are getting congrats mate.”

Far be it from us to speculate on possible summer arrivals – see story featuring Morgan Williams’ dog from this time last year – but if arrival of Neufville would be quite a coup for new boss Chris Hargreaves.

If he were to join, he would be the first signing for the manager who has tied up existing squad members goalkeeper Grant Smith, defenders Max Hunt and Morgan Williams, midfielders Josh Staunton and Lawson D’Ath and forward Tom Knowles.

In his first loan spell from Luton, managed by former Yeovil defender Nathan Jones, Neufville turned out 31 times in the second half of last season.

That ended with a horrific ankle injury in the penultimate National League fixture of the season at Altrincham.

Having spent eight months regaining his fitness, he returned on loan in March and went on to make 11 league appearances scoring the second in a 2-1 home win over Stockport County.

He was recalled ahead of the final game at Altrincham with his parent club in the Championship play-offs.

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Josh Neufville wheels away after scoring Yeovil’s second.

Yeovil Town’s on loan winger Josh Neufville has been recalled by Luton Town ahead of the Glovers’ final game of the season at Altrincham.

Nathan Jones’ Luton, are tied 1-1 in a tense play off semi final against Huddersfield and have taken the option to recall him with injuries within their first team squad.

Two loan spells at Huish Park over two seasons and Josh made a huge impression on all Glovers fans and we wish him all the best back at Luton.

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Josh Neufville has described his time as a Yeovil Town player as “pivotal” in his footballing development.

The Luton Town loanee returned for his second spell at the club in March having played more than 30 games last season before suffering a horrific broken leg in the penultimate match of the campaign.

Josh Neufville. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

The 21-year-old made his 11th appearance since returning in the 2-2 draw with Boreham Wood in the final home league match of the season.

Speaking to BBC Somerset’s Sheridan Robins after the game, he said: “It’s been a pivotal part of my professional career coming here, getting my first professional goals, assists, it’s been great.

“(Former manager) Darren Sarll helped me a lot and (interim boss) Charlie (Lee) and Jody (Brown, assistant manager) have come in and they have worked to help me on and off the pitch, even coming off the pitch helped me a lot.

“Any time I put a Yeovil shirt on it is a good experience, especially playing at home in front of the Thatcher’s End, I just can’t get enough of it.”

He echoed the sentiments of his manager Charlie Lee insisting that even at 2-0 down against a Boreham Wood side who were still in with a shout of a play-off place ahead of the game, the team believed they could get something.

Neufville said: “Even in the first 15 minutes we showed we had the ability to get in behind them and me, Knowlesy and a few of the other lads had some chances and gave the home fans something to get behind.

“The boys had the belief throughout the whole game and we said that in the changing rooms at half-time, once we got the basics right as we did in the first 15 minutes, we knew we would be fine.

“Since I came back we have shown what a good team we are, all around the pitch we are good.”

The final league game of the campaign next weekend will see him return to Altrincham where he suffered a broken leg after just 12 minutes of a 4-3 defeat last May.

But the youngster is unfazed about the idea of returning to the scene of the incident which kept him out for nine months.

He said: “It’s part and parcel of the game, going back there for the last game of the season and the lads will give it their all, as we did today.

“We are playing for pride and we showed that today, at 2-0 down we had to make sure we didn’t leave anything out there today.

“All the boys are knackered, legs hurt, feet hurt, Wilko was quick to take his boots off and that just shows how hard we have all worked.

“Even when the season is done, we still have to fight for something whether it is pride or contracts or whatever.”

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On loan defender Ben Barclay‘s stay at Huish Park until the end of the season is expected to be completed today (Friday).

The Stockport County centre half is due to conclude his second month’s stay after tomorrow’s home match with Southend United.

Ben Barclay. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Speaking to the Gloverscast’s Ben Barrett ahead of the fixture, Yeovil boss Darren Sarll confirmed the 25-year-old “should get authorised today.”

He added: “Ben should be staying until the end of the season. The class of Stockport has been unrivalled, their sporting director, Simon Wilson, has been unbelievable for us.

“We are very grateful to Stockport, both Dave Challinor and Simon, that we can keep Ben until the end of the season.”

A few hours after Sarll said his at his pre-match press conference on Friday, the club confirmed Barclay’s loan had been extended – see here. However, we’d expect any deal to prevent him from turn out against his parent club when they visit Huish Park on April 23.

The boss also confirmed that Max Hunt, whose absence through injury coincided with the arrival of Barclay, was back in training with the first-team coach but said he does not expect him back until the middle of April.

But, of loanees forward Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and defender Jack Robinson, Sarll said the pair would have to fight for their places in the squad.

Sonny’s last appearance came in the 2-0 defeat to Grimsby Town a fortnight ago whilst Middlesbrough loanee Robinson has not been seen since the loss at Wealdstone at the start of February.

The manager said: “Sonny has to compete and get himself back in. There’s no divine right to play, I’ve probably shown in three years I have left out a lot of bigger players.

“Reuben (Reid) had to fight, Adi (Yussuf) has had to fight, it’s a meritocracy. My duty is to the club and the changing room and I have to give them the best chance to win matches.

“It won’t be the first or last time in Sonny’s career he’s had to fight. I’m not sure there’s another teenager which has made 16 starts in the National League. The contribution he’s had will stand him in stead.

“Jack is in and out with injury with a reoccurrence of a couple of injuries. He should be back on the training pitch next week, but when he’s fit he will have to fight Morgan Williams for that shirt.”

Sarll has also defended his decision to bring in loan goalkeeper Ted Cann instead of throwing number two Max Evans in to National League action.

The boss said that if he had not been able to bring in a more experienced keeper following the injury to first choice Grant Smith he would have played the 19-year-old.

Max Evans

He said: “My duty is to the club and the dressing room to get the best available, if I didn’t think there was anything out there that was better and immediately available, I would have played Max.

“He knows his development plan, we’ve outlined that very clearly. He’s learning every week. Goalkeeping is a pressurised position and if you get it wrong at an early stage with a goalkeeper it’s curtains and I didn’t think it was the right time.

Max has a big future, I would love him to be here next year and continue his growth and he will be a very good goalkeeper.

To ask him to play away at Dover and at home to Bromley, who we assumed would have been a physical team, that would have been hard for Max.

“I would rather he got good experiences and built slowly than jump to the next bit and had to go back down.”

There was praise for striker Reuben Reid after he impressed with his performance in the midweek win over Bromley.

The game was only his third start of the season having suffered a hamstring tear in pre-season and he has got just one goal in his 15 appearances.

Reuben Reid. Picture courtesy of Mike Kunz.

Sarll said: “His story is unfair on him, we started pre-season and building around Reuben and Joe (Quigley) being our two forwards, Mark Little in that back four and then between week four and five of pre-season you lose Reuben and Mark.

“So we had to change, went through the adaptation process and went to a 4-3-3, we go on a great run and come away with Reuben fit, but playing a system I did not think would suit Reuben.

“I have always played Reuben in a front two since he joined. I wanted Adi (Yussuf) against Dover because he’s chaotic and the work he does against defenders, but then at home I wanted to smooth us out.

“So you take two destructive players like Jordan (Barnett) and Adi and bring in Reuben and Lawson (D’Ath) and they were great, but that was the quality I expected of him when he signed.”

Josh Neufville went from “rusty” to “breath-taking” in his performances between last weekend’s win at Dover Athletic and Monday morning’s training session, according to Sarll.

The winger arrived for his second loan spell at Huish Park last Friday and played the last 15 minutes in Kent and then got a further 21 minutes on Tuesday night against Bromley.

Sarll said: “He’s a young man who’s had a career-threatening and is still finding his feet. When he was training on Friday and when he came on on Saturday he looked rusty which is inevitable, but he was breath-taking on Monday, so the shackles are coming off.

“Everyone was excited to have Josh back and the players who were here last year went through a hell of a time, so the bond that players who were here then is stronger than it is with other players.

“So, we were all pleased to see Josh and pleased to know he’d recovered and he was playing again, he did a lot for us last year and we did an awful amount for him.”

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Luton Town winger Josh Neufville has returned on loan at Yeovil Town until the end of the season.

The 20-year-old spent the second half of last season at Huish Park and was one of the few bright spots in a disappointing campaign, but suffered a broken ankle in the penultimate match of the season at Altrincham last May.

Josh Neufville’s Instagram post after suffering a broken ankle playing for Yeovil last May.

He goes in the squad for the visit to bottom of the table Dover Athletic with the Glovers looking to up their goal-scoring tally, having scored just eight goals since the turn of the year.

Neufville has been working his way back to fitness since suffering his horrific injury with a number of appearances in the Luton development squad and turning out in a county cup match last month.

He was named on the substitutes’ bench for the Hatters’ FA Cup tie with Cambridge United, but did not appear.

The winger’s arrival is Yeovil manager Darren Sarll’s second loan signing of the day having signed goalkeeper Ted Cann on a short-term loan from West Bromwich Albion to cover for an injury to first-choice Grant Smith – read more here.

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Luton Town boss Nathan Jones has said he is in no rush to send winger Josh Neufville back out on loan just yet.

The 20-year-old had a highly successful spell at Huish Park at the end of last season, but it ended with a horrific ankle injury in his final appearance.

He has been working through a rehabilitation programme which culminated in him making a substitute appearance in the Bedfordshire Senior Cup last week.

Asked by Luton Today if he wanted to send the youngster back out on loan, Jones said: “Yes, we can do, we’re in no rush to do that though as he hasn’t had a full game yet.”

Josh Neufville still smiling after his injury in his final game for Yeovil at Altrincham last season.

The former Glovers full-back clearly rates the way his old club looked after the youngster, adding: “We loaned him to Yeovil and he did fantastically well, they looked after him, so it was a real opportunity for him to come back then after that loan and test himself in our environment.

“He never got to do that, so he’s just missed eight, nine, 10 months of that development, but now it’s all about him playing catch-up and taking his opportunities.”

Here at the Gloverscast we were (like all Yeovil fans, no doubt) thrilled to see Josh back playing – and if he needs a lift to Huish Park, let us know, we’ll drive him ourselves!

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Josh Neufville has thanked Yeovil Town for helping him to regain his belief in his own ability as his loan spell at the club ended.

The 20-year-old underwent surgery on an ankle injury suffering last weekend’s 4-3 defeat at Altrincham and took to Twitter to thank people who had sent their best wishes.

This week, the youngster was offered a new contract with his parent club, Championship side Luton Town, and seems destined to have a bright future.

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Former Yeovil Town winger Josh Neufville has been offered a new contract by Luton Town boss (and former Glover…) Nathan Jones.

Neufville is recovering after surgery following a broken ankle in his final appearance for the Glovers but has been offered new terms to remain at Kenilworth Road.

Also announced was that the Hatters will trigger an option on Gabriel Osho who has spent time on loan at both Yeovil and Rochdale, finally, we rewind the clock to the 2006/07 season to remember Martin Cranie.

A versatile defender who was actually born in Yeovil joined the Glovers on loan from Southampton – he too has been offered a new deal by Nathan Jones.

Congratulations to the trio of former Glovers on getting their offers.