Gary Sweet has said that the sale of Tom Craddock was not financially motivated.
The striker moved to Oxford United yesterday for an undisclosed fee in a dramatic last-minute transfer deadline day switch.
The Hatters managing director confirmed that the deal was one of a number on the table, but that there was, 'no politics involved'.
However, he couldn’t reveal whether United were the club that Craddock said he’d been ‘tapped up’ by a fortnight ago.
“The deal was done at one minute to six,” said Sweet, adding: “But these things take all day to put together. Oxford had been interested for some time and it was one of a number of deals on the table.
"It wasn’t financially motivated on our part, as we are looking to improve the squad, not reduce it.
“There was no politics played in this issue and I think people read too much into it.
“We are sad to see Tom go, as he has been an important part of our history, but business is business, football is football, and players come and go.
“In that position we are lucky to have three top quality strikers.
“It won’t have a significant impact on the squad and, from our point of view, four (strikers) into two doesn’t quite go, so I would think that the other players would be quite buoyed by it.”
Sweet added that the club did inquire about replacing last season’s top goalscorer, saying: “We had a look around but we would have only done a deal if it was right for us.”
The exit comes after Money had said on Friday that the 23-year-old would not be leaving the Conference club and that the player was ‘in a good place’.
Craddock joined Luton in 2008 from middlesbrough but becomes the third player to leave Luton in a week after club captain Kevin Nicholls and defender Alan white left by mutual consent on Friday.
He will link up with former Town players Asa Hall and Simon Heslop, who both joined Chris Wilder’s team in the summer.
