Jack Wilshere has explained the reasoning behind decisions made in the Hatters’ retained and released list that was submitted last Friday.

Departing Kenilworth Road this summer at the end of their contracts are midfielder Zack Nelson, wideman Cohen Bramall and forward Jacob Brown.

Nelson ended last season on loan at fellow League One side AFC Wimbledon, where he made 19 appearances and scored one goal, while Brown joined Portsmouth in January and helped them maintain their Championship status.

Contract talks are ongoing with Liam Walsh and Jordan Clark, whose current deals are up this summer, as well as Elijah Adebayo who is continuing his rehab from hip surgery at The Brache.

Jack told LTFC+: “It’s important that we improve as a team because ultimately we fell short, and we have to reflect on what that is. That’s still ongoing and that will come with recruitment as well.

“There were some tough decisions that we had to make. I think about the released list, we sent Zack out on loan to try to get a little bit more experience and play games, and he did, he went out and he helped Wimbledon stay in the league, but we wanted to move in a different direction.

“The same with Browny, we sent him out knowing that there was an option that we could have kept him, but again we want to move in a different direction.

“Cohen was a little bit different, because he gave so much this season and helped the team, helped me personally when I first came in. So that took a little bit more discussion, but ultimately the team and the club wanted to move in a different direction and of course, with the financial rules that are coming in, we had to make some tough decisions that weren’t easy.”

The reduction in the percentage of turnover that League One clubs are permitted to spend on player-related expenditure as part of Salary Cost Management Protocol (SCMP) has to be factored into decisions taken this summer, including with players who remain under contract but whose future may lie elsewhere.

“There are some players that we retain because they are under contract, but we’ll be looking to move on this summer because one thing I think we did really well as a club in January, with the recruitment team and Gary (Sweet) and Moons (James Mooney), we identified really quickly what type of players we want here, what we want the culture to look like.

“We want hungry players that really want to be here and help the team, and I came out and said that.

“So yes, some players will be coming back from loan but we’ll be looking to move on, and we are in discussions with certain players – with Clicker and with Walshy – because of how important they were, how important they are to me and the way we want to play, but also how important they were to turning things around at this club.

“Especially when I think about Clicker and his relationship with everyone at the club, the fans, he’s an important part of what we want to do. The same with Walshy.

“So there are some difficult decisions, but one thing I know from my time as a player is that they want clarity, they want the coaches and the club to be honest with them.

“Over the last ten days, that’s been part of that process where I’ve sat down with every player and been as honest as I could with them and told them where I see them here, or if I don’t see them here. There is going to be a busy summer ahead.”