Mick Harford says he’s been aware of current Luton hotshot Elijah Adebayo since his days in the Fulham development set-up, but that it was a collective club agreement to sign the striker rather than an individual recommendation.
The 23-year-old signed in the January transfer window from League Two Walsall and scored on his full debut and then again the following game, adding a third on Tuesday night from the spot to seal a 2-0 victory over Coventry.
Boss Nathan Jones eluded to statistical data provided by new head of recruitment analysis, Jay Socik, as one of the factors behind the move for Adebayo. But while Harford has moved from head of recruitment to assistant manager under Jones, he still has a hand in both roles.
“I saw him playing a few years ago for Fulham’s Under-23s up at Swindon,” the former England striker said. “I wouldn’t say I’d earmarked him. He was a young kid then, about 18 or 19 years old. Fair play to him, he went to Walsall and did fantastically well there.
“He was just flagged up and we all made an agreement to sign him. I wouldn’t say it anyone specifically that said, ‘right, we’ve got to go and sign him, we’ve got to go and get him’. He was flagged up and we all agreed he would be a good asset for the football club.
“In terms of him being on the pitch, he’s very effective in what he does and he’s doing well for us at the moment and long may that continue.”
Last month, the Hatters also added Phil Chapple as head of scouting operations and asked if his player-spotting remit has changed, Harford said: “I’ll still have my foot in the recruitment camp, which I want to. That’s what I was brought into the football club to do when I came back with Nathan all those years ago.
“That’s the bread and butter, but what I’ll do at the football club – Nathan asks me to do whatever I’ll do and I’ll try to help everyone as much as I can. We brought Chappy and Jay in, Jay as data analyst and Chappy will help with the recruitment and the scouting, so I’ll just have a foot in both camps really, in terms of trying to help and assist everyone.”
Adebayo has said that he’s benefitting from working with Harford, who banged in the goals for Town in their 1980s top-flight heyday, when his talents were even coveted by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
“Have I had a big influence on him? I try to speak with him on a daily basis and just basically gave him tips, as all of the coaching staff do, so everyone’s making contributions and just hoping he continues to improve,” the Hatters legend said.
“We speak. It’s hard for me to get on to the training ground and clip balls for him, but I’ll get the other players to do bits and pieces.
“But as a group we’ve all tried to help him, myself, Paul (Hart), Chris (Cohen) and Nathan, we’ve all tried to help the boy, tried to give him advice.
“He’s come in, done fantastic, he’s a big threat, he’s been a big presence for us over the games he’s played and we’re absolutely thrilled with him.”
“One thing is he’s got the right attitude, wants to learn, is a real good kid, very diligent and he wants to get better, so that’s a massive bonus for us.
“In any walk of life you can always keep improving on a daily basis, if he keeps doing his work, he’s very diligent, this morning he wanted to do a little bit of work in terms of attacking play and we did it with a couple of midfield players helping him out, so he’ll keep improving, the biggest thing is he wants to improve, so he’s got a chance.
“His technique is very, very good, touch is good, he holds the ball up well, links play up well, he’s come in and he’s been a breath of fresh air.”
Despite his almost instant impact at Kenilworth Road, Adebayo is still finding his feet in the Championship, though he has given Luton more options going forward.
Harford said: “What can he improve on? We can all improve. He wants to get better, he wants to learn to get himself in good positions.
“It’s not just all about being technically good, it’s about being in the right position, occupying back fours, pulling in between centre halves and full backs, so two players have got to mark you or keep an eye on you.
“It opens things up for other players, like the goal at Nottingham Forest, that Tunni’s (Ryan Tunnicliffe) got, he’s pulled away at the back post, he’s made a run in the middle and scored the goal, so it’s just basic little things like that which you learn from experience.”
