‘Elliot Thorpe may be the one that fills the void,’ says boss Jones on new signing

New signing Elliot Thorpe could be the man to step into the midfielder void that Luton couldn’t fill during the transfer window, boss Nathan Jones has said. 

The 20-year-old was signed on a free last week after he turned a new deal down with Tottenham Hotspur.

A Wales Under-21 international, he’s been added to Town’s first team squad, though he is expected to be eased in slowly, having not had a pre-season, so it’s unlikely he’ll be seen in a Hatter shirt soon, but possibly before the club may need to dip into the market again, in January. 

“We don’t bring in anyone gratuitously, for numbers,” said Jones, adding: “We wanted to bring in something that was marquee. We’d have loved to have brought back Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall or something like that. 

“We were in talks for a few (players) but nothing materialised so we didn’t want to just bring in a body, because we’ve got good midfielders that we can rely on.

“The next thing is, can we develop someone over time. The window’s not open for another four months, so in four months Elliot Thorpe will be in a totally different position to what he’s in now. 

“In January, we might still be looking for that midfielder, or Elliot Thorpe may be the one that fills the void. 

“That’s what we do. We either bring in better, or different. Elliot Thorpe is different to what we’ve got because he’s 20, technically very good. Physically, he needs more to get hip to speed with us. Once he does that, we’ll have a more rounded midfielder.

“At the minute he is a bit de-conditioned because he hasn’t played. Not had a pre-season, not been with Tottenham, he was away with Wales U21s, where he plays sporadically, so it will take some building and once he does that, we see him as a young, exciting midfield player.

“There is always a process to how we recruit and we have a good group of experienced pros from 29 to 31/32, then the main bulk are those in their prime, then we have some younger ones coming through either 22 or 23 and then we needed to add to that group and slightly under – 19/20/21-year-olds coming through so there is pure longevity in our squad and we see him as that.

“We have bolstered that group so we don’t have to name him in the 25. He has been added to our first team squad as an up and coming player and we want him to compete.”

Thorpe had been wanted by German side Hoffenheim as well as reports of interest from Cardiff City and Burnley before he opted to join Luton. 

Jones said: “It’s a good coup because I know he had other opportunities but there’s pathway here for young players. 

“I know fans are saying that they want young players in the side, but we’ve reduced the average age of our squad to 23, so unless we want to play an under-23 side, it’s in a real good place. 

“What we want to do is get young, hungry, talented players in and develop them so that they do play in our first team. Sometimes that takes a little bit of time, but we’re delighted to have signed Elliot. 

“We had him in at the end of last season, but we had to wait and see his situation with Spurs. Once that was clarified, then we moved.”