Merthyr Town Football Club are delighted to announce the loan signing of Tate Xavier-Jones from EFL League One club, Luton Town until the end of the 2025/26 season.

Tate joins the Martyrs on loan from EFL League One side, Luton Town, after featuring on loan for Airdrieonians in the Scottish Championship in the first half of the 2025/26 season. Xavier-Jones, 19, is an exciting forward and has made 14 appearances in Scotland so far this season and has previously had loan spells with Kettering Town. Tate joined Luton Town at the age of 6 and has progressed through to the U21’s and became part of the first team training set-up after scoring an impressive 31 goals across U18s and U21s level in the 2024/25 season. Predominantly a striker, however Tate is also capable of playing as a winger and is a player with excellent speed.

Speaking on securing the loan signing, Paul Michael said “We have been working hard for a few weeks, firstly to identify the right players for Merthyr Town Football Club and then to work with clubs, agents and players to finalise the right deals.

You only have to look at the average age and background of our squad to see that our model is to identify young, talented and ambitious players from below or from professional academies. Then we support and work with players to try to give them confidence and opportunities to flourish. We don’t always get it right, but we’ve done pretty well in recent history.

On this occasion we have looked for a particular profile of attacker to suit our style of play. We believe Tate is the perfect type of player for us. Tate is very dynamic; he’s got a very good first touch and close control and he’s also an excellent ball striker and finisher. He will run in-behind with desire to score goals and run at defenders.

Although Tate’s minutes were limited in Scotland, I believe it will have been an excellent experience for him and this senior football experience coupled with his 45 goal contributions from U21’s and U18’s football last season sets him up perfectly for a successful spell with us for the second half of the season. I’m really looking forward to working with Tate and seeing him settle in with our squad.

We have been working on more signings too and I’m hopeful that we’ll bring in another player next week to strengthen the squad further.”

Subject to International Clearance, Tate will be available for selection for tomorrow's away league fixture against Worksop Town.

Welcome Tate!