'Quick, athletic, good finisher - but had injuries': Luton Town lowdown on Portsmouth newcomer Jacob Brown
The 27-year-old scored seven goals in 60 appearances at Kenilworth Road
Jacob Brown is a Premier League goal-scorer who can flourish under a manager who has faith in him - and finally being injury-free.
That’s the verdict of Mike Simmonds, Luton reporter for Luton Today, who hopes a change of scenery and improvement in luck will help Pompey’s new signing return to his best.
The 27-year-old scored against Crystal Palace and Brentford in successive top-flight games from November 2023 after arriving at Kenilworth Road from Stoke.
However, the striker has managed just five league goals since then after subsequently suffering two serious injuries which has devastated his Luton progress.
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Indeed, having missed pre-season in the summer of 2025, the highly-regarded Brown only returned to the Hatters’ first-team in mid-November.
Now, seven League One games later, Brown has moved to Fratton Park on loan in a bid for regular football - and to provide the goal touch John Mousinho’s men have been so desperately missing.
‘He’ll always be liked by Luton fans’
Simmonds told The News: ‘Jacob is quick, athletic and quite a good finisher when he gets a chance. He’ll always be liked by Luton fans for scoring the third goal against Watford in a 3-0 win in October 2024, which went down very well!
‘However, he has also missed the last two pre-seasons through injury, which I imagine has affected him. Although he has recently been left out because Luton have been looking to get him a move, before that it was injury who kept him out.
‘Jacob arrived at Luton in the summer before the Premier League and scored a great goal to beat Crystal Palace, then another in the following game at Brentford.
‘At that stage it looked like he could get a few more, but he didn’t get a consistent run in the starting XI, with Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo obviously doing well at the time.
‘He was a good member of the squad, though, and always tried when he came on and did well. Then he picked up an injury in February, most Luton players did unfortunately, and didn’t play again that season.
‘Jacob’s had two really bad knee injuries since he’s been here - once in training and once in a game - which has really hindered his chances of starting games and playing lots of matches.
‘That’s a shame because he’s a good all-round player, although he would probably need to play up front with someone else to really get the benefit of him.
‘He hasn’t quite got the height to be the main striker by himself, against big centre-halves that can be a bit of a struggle, but someone alongside him can win it in the air and bring him more into play.
‘You wouldn’t say Jacob’s a 20-goal a season man, maybe more of double figures if he plays a lot of games. If he got a decent run in the team and was a first-choice with the manager backing him properly, he could do quite well.’
More than half his Luton appearances as a substitute
Brown has made 60 appearances for Luton since August 2023, of which 33 outings have come off the bench.
Although regarded as a striker, scoring 30 times in 141 outings for previous club Stoke, he has operated on the right wing at times for the Hatters, particularly this season.
But Simmonds believes the player is more effective as a centre-forward.
He added: ‘He’s an attacker. Jack Wilshere said he sees Jacob as a number nine, although he played there a few times this season and it didn’t quite work out.
‘All Luton’s forward players have struggled anyway, so it’s not just him, but he got a bad knee injury in March last year and didn’t return until November.
‘He had a few games up front, it didn’t really quite work out, then a few matches on the wing and that didn’t work out either - then he didn’t feature in the last six squads.
‘Wilshere has got rid of a lot of players so far, trimming the wage bill and getting some players out playing again - and Jacob is one of those.’