This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Elijah Adebayo has enjoyed an extraordinary rise from the depths of League 2 to playing a starring role in the Championship in little under a year. 

The 23-year-old, who signed for The Hatters in January, netted five times in what remained of the 2020/21 season, proving to be a source of goals and a real physical presence. 

In a season where he has emerged as the main man up front, the young forward has seven Championship goals to his name already. 

Six of those goals have come in his last seven games, and whilst Aleksandar Mitrovic is already steaming ahead in the golden boot race, Adebayo will be hoping to be right up there. 

With Adebayo in excellent goalscoring form at present, we asked three of our writers here at FLW to share their thoughts on how many goals they expect the 23-year-old to score this season...

 

 

Marcus Ally

How many goals can Elijah Adebayo score for Luton this season?

The 20 goal mark always seems like an indicator of a successful season for a striker. Two games away from being a third of the way through the campaign and Adebayo already has seven.

If Luton can consistently create as many chances as they have in recent weeks for their leading marksman then we should expect the 23-year-old to hit the 20 mark in the Championship alone.

Adebayo is on penalties which always helps and will likely be spearheading the Hatters’ play-off push week in week out if he stays fit.

Opponents may begin to adapt the way they play against Luton due to their lofty league position, if Nathan Jones can successfully combat this then the Hatters should sustain a top six push for the remainder of the campaign.

20 is a realistic target and there is a good chance he could score even more.

Charlie Gregory

It’s hard to put a number on the amount of goals that Elijah Adebayo could bag for Luton this year - but, based on this early form, another seven or eight to take him up to 15 in total wouldn’t surprise me.

He’s been exciting for the Hatters so far this year and they’ll need him to continue firing them in on a regular basis if they want to try and break into those play-off spots. He and Harry Cornick could be vital for the club this campaign and I would expect them both to keep firing in the goals regularly going forward.

What’s even better for Luton is Adebayo’s age - he’s only 23 and to me, it looks like he is getting better with every game that goes by. So imagine how good he could eventually be for the side.

I mean it’s early days yet and the player has blanked on a few occasions already this year but you can’t expect Ivan Toney levels of contribution from a man who is still adapting in some ways to regular Championship football.

If he can keep up the levels he has hit so far this season though for the remainder of the campaign, then he could easily be the Hatters top goalscorer - and could definitely be well into the double digits.

Jordan Rushworth 

Elijah Adebayo has proven to be an excellent signing for Luton Town since they brought him in from Walsall during the winter window last season. The forward seemed like a player with plenty of potential but he so far has probably performed far better than even Nathan Jones would have hoped for when he signed him.

The 23-year-old has managed to fire home 12 goals in 31 appearances for the Hatters since his arrival and seven of those have come this term for Luton. That means that he has managed to be involved in nearly 40% of the Hatters’ goals in the league this term.

There is no reason why Adebayo should not be aiming towards the 18 to 20 goal mark in the Championship this season. That would be a remarkable achievement for him considering this is his first full campaign in the English second tier.

Adebayo’s form could be crucial towards Luton’s hopes of challenging for the play-offs this season and he will need to keep fit and keep getting chances created for him to maintain his form.