Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was the unanimous Player of the Season for last year’s title winners Leicester City.
His stunning dominance in England’s second tier earned him a £30 million move to Chelsea this summer, where he is playing and scoring.
Nottingham-born Dewsbury-Hall scored his first Chelsea goal against Gent in the Conference League, solidifying a modest yet impressive start to life at Stamford Bridge.
The midfielder achieved double-digit goals and assists in the Championship last season as the Foxes largely cruised to promotion.
But while many neutral fans only caught wind of KDH’s potential in the past 12 months or so, fans of one current Championship club fell in love with him before he’d barely kicked a ball at the King Power.
Hatters were mad for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
In October 2020, immediately after signing a four-year contract with the Leicestershire side, Dewsbury-Hall was loaned to Luton Town.
He was an incredibly bright spark in an otherwise tepid season for the Hatters, finishing 12th in the league. His nine goal involvements fell second only to striker James Collins, and with 247 progressive passes (5th highest in the league) he was a transitional force in the middle of the park.
Winning the Hatters’ Diamond Player of the Month award four times, the Ian Pearce Memorial Trophy (most home MOTM awards), and eventually Player of the Season, it was one of the most successful loan spells of recent memory.
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Time Well Spent
What seperated this even further from your average ‘Premier League to EFL loan spell’ was KDH’s clear and vocal integration with the club and its fan base.
After his final appearance in May 2021, in an internal interview, he had nothing but good things to say about the Bedfordshire club.
“I have made some absolutely fantastic memories here at Luton,” Dewsbury-Hall stated. “This has by far been the best footballing year of my career so far, I know it has been short but it will be a year I look back on for the rest of my career as my breakthrough season.”
“Today it is disappointing to finish on a loss but I’m so proud of the lads at this football club. For 46 games to be grafting week in, week out, in a really tough year. To finish in the top half of the Championship, I know not many people would have said that at the start of the season and it is a credit to everyone here. I’m so proud to have been a part of that this season and I will cherish that for the rest of my career.”
One month later, head clearly turned, he also spoke to the Second Tier Podcast about a potential return.
He said: “I reckon the fans would be happy if I came back, and as I say this season has been fantastic so if it comes to Luton wanting me back I would definitely think about it and take it seriously because I’ve not got a bad word to say about Luton, we’ll have to see what happens.
“I’m not going to say anything because you never know with football but… we’ll see what happens”
Sadly for Luton Town supporters, Leicester gave him assurances of Premier League game time and the rest was history.
Hatters fans won’t be surprised he’s earned a move to a big club like Chelsea and may well be keeping an eye on how he gets on.
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