Cody Drameh has been a regular in the Luton Town starting XI since making the loan switch from Leeds United in the January transfer window. The right-back struggled for game time at Elland Road this season, but he looks set to play a key role under Rob Edwards as Luton chase promotion to the Premier League.
With that in mind, Leeds Live spoke to Ian Robertson of fan page We Are Luton Town, to check in on how he’s getting on at Kenilworth Road.
What’s your general opinion on how Drameh has played for Luton Town since joining in January?
He’s definitely been a grower in terms of his performances but that’s not to say his performances have been bad, he’s just grown into the team and he’s performing at a really good level. To put it into perspective, James Bree, who went outwards to the Premier League to Southampton was the top of chances created in the Championship, so we were losing a good player for Championship level. Drameh has created 14 clear cut chances since he’s come in and again, that’s the highest in the league. He’s done well, he’s done really well.
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The reason why he’s grown in the last three or four games is he’s just been given a little bit more freedom to take risks under Rob Edwards. He’s been given chance to get forward, cut inside and show a little bit more flair. If you haven’t seen his assist for Carlton Morris the other day, it was pretty good, it wasn’t your general cross, it bobbled it a little bit and he hit with the outside of his foot with power for Morris to head in.
It’s gone really well for him. It’s just a shame he wasn’t here at the beginning of the season, he probably wouldn’t have come here anyway because of James Bree, but I think a full season here and he would have been raring to go for you guys next season.
How much did you know about him before he joined?
Little bits. I saw him last year at Cardiff and I know they thought well of him. When Bree went and I heard his name mentioned I did a bit of research and you guys were mixed about whether he should stay and get first-team opportunities for Leeds or not. He was on the peripheral but we knew he was athletic and he had a little bit more skill about him compared to James Bree. I think the main difference between the two is Bree wasn’t an exceptional defender. He could defend but he wasn’t that great whereas Drameh is really good at getting back, so while we do give him license to attack, he’s really good at getting back and he’s strong in the tackle. For him, I think with the more experience he can get, he’s going to be a top player.
How has he looked playing as a wing-back in Rob Edwards’ system?
Yeah, we play with a back three and he’s the wing-back. Really he’s in the opposition’s half of the pitch more than he is ours so that shows the kind of football we play. He’s been utilising that and as soon as we press he squeezes in to squeeze their wingers out wide. We do this thing called ‘linking’, where if we’re pressing they go in waves of three so they never break the chain and Drameh is part of that.
It looks like he’s found his home in the side, then, but how likely is he to play an important role over the remainder of the season and Luton go for promotion?
Providing he doesn’t get injured, he’ll stay there. We have a couple of other players that can play in that position, but have more to their game in terms of which positions they can play. I think as long as he’s fit, he’ll be there and he’s got the advantage of not playing a full season so he should have a lot more left in the tank as well which is great, especially if we have play-off games and a play-off final, potentially. He’s a big part of what we’re doing at the moment.
His future at Leeds looks a little uncertain at the minute, would Luton supporters be keen to see him stick around?
Yeah, absolutely! We always build quite young and we never really sign players who are at the top of their ceiling. He’s clearly got a lot of talent and he’s still raw but he has a high ceiling, so he fits that framework.
Another one of our recruitment policies is character and he’s got a great character, he’s fit in really well. He’d definitely suit us but do I think he’ll be available to us? No. I don’t know if we’d be able to compete if he does leave Leeds, unless we do get promoted. If we do get promoted his wage structure would fit really well and he’s the type of player we’d look to sign but that all depends on him as well.
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