Stoke City have reportedly been in contact with relegated Luton Town over a summer deal for their midfielder,..

Stoke City have reportedly been in contact with relegated Luton Town over a summer deal for their midfielder, Lamine Fanne Dabo.

The 21-year-old’s reputation has risen pretty quickly over the last couple of years, taking off at AIK Stockholm having previously played in the Spanish lower leagues with Constancia. He signed for Luton last summer for about £3.5m but only joined up with them in January after the completion of the Allvenskan season, helping his side qualify for the Europa League.

An injury in an FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest frustrated his immediate impact but he got back fit to make 12 appearances, including six starts, in the Championship as Luton’s form picked up markedly and they went into the final day still in with a chance of staying up.

The media in Sweden claims that he could be on the move again quickly after relegation. Fotboll Direkt say Stoke and Club Brugge have been in touch with Luton “for a short time” while Sportsbladet suggest there is interest from La Liga. There are also apparently suitors in the top flights of Italy and France

Fanne was born in Senegal but grew up in Spain. He has played in different midfield roles – pushed further forward at Luton due to injuries to players including Jacob Brown, Elijah Adebayo and Alfie Doughty – and boss Matt Bloomfield has pointed to his impressive athleticism and height.

He told the Luton News last month: “There’s been a lot of discussion around Lamine and rightly so. We brought him in as a football club and he’s had to be really patient, but he’s been adapting to the English game and he gives us options in that position.”

Previous manager Rob Edwards had said earlier in the season: “He’s a top young talent who the recruitment team have done really well in spotting early and we’ve gone early on him as well. He’s an exciting one, it’s important as well I always stress that we don’t put too much pressure on him too soon, like anyone. Especially for a young player to adjust to a new country and a new team, new team-mates, new way, new environment, culture and all that sort of stuff will be a challenge for him, but we’ll help him settle as soon as possible.

“He’s a great lad, really humble, quiet. You’re meeting new people for the first time, I’ve met him a few times now, he’s quite a quiet individual, but he’s got a good personality and most importantly, a really good personality on the pitch, so he’ll settle well.”

Stoke have released Jordan Thompson and said goodbye to Andrew Moran in the midfield department so far this summer, while re-signing Lewis Baker. Ben Pearson, Wouter Burger, Tatsuki Seko, Bosun Lawal and Sol Sidibe complete the senior group and it remains to be seen how much wheeling and dealing Jon Walters and Mark Robins do in there over the next couple of months

Nordic Football Podcast host Steve Wyss said earlier this year: “I think (Fanne) is a really good player. He’s got the whole package and can play any role you want in midfield. But for me, I’d play him as an eight — a proper box-to-box midfielder.

“If you look at some of the assists he had for AIK, he was getting onto the edge of the penalty area and pulling the ball back. He’s got really good strength and decision-making for his age.”