Nathan Jones does not expect top scorer Elijah Adebayo will be leaving Luton this transfer window, saying it won’t make sense for the player on the the club.
The striker, who was only signed at the end of the last winter window from League Two Walsall, has been a revelation since scoring on his full debut last term.
Adebayo opened the scoring in Saturday’s 4-0 FA Cup third round win over Harrogate, which took his tally to 11 for the season already.
Stories emerged last month that Newcastle were interested in the 23-year-old, but the Premier League strugglers have just signed Chris Wood from Burnley for £20million, so that may be the end of any speculation as far as the Hatters hero is concerned.
But, transfer talk is inevitable around Adebayo because he’s playing so well, with team-mates Sonny Bradley and Cameron Jerome adding that they think he could one day make it to the Premier League.
Like both of those senior players, boss Jones believes the time is not right for a move away from Kenilworth Road for the forward.
“He needs more time with us,” said the Welshman, adding: “Elijah will get to the level he needs to get to.
“The worst thing that can happen is if he rushes the decision or makes a knee-jerk one – because he’s only a year into his proper Championship career, and probably less than a year – so he needs more time and time and goals and learning will only do him good.
“If anyone wants to come in for Elijah then we have a valuation which is extremely strong, so it would only need to be serious bidders, but we don’t anticipate Elijah going in this window just because it doesn’t make sense for us. It won’t make sense for us on the pitch, off the pitch and if I’m honest, I’m not sure it will make sense for Elijah yet, to jump this early without having the real tools behind him to go and impact the next level.
“We don’t just want to sell him to the Premier League, we want him to, one, go the right club and, two, go to a club where he is ready to really impact and doesn’t come off the bench for five minutes, play for their 23s and end up going on loan to a Championship club that is apparently better than ours.”
Talking about possible exits this month, Jones said: “What we have here is a good, competitive, strong squad, great attitude, everyone rowing as such, no passengers. If someone comes in for one of ours and we believe for them and for us it’s a good move, then we’re open to certain stuff.
“Are we actively looking to get people out? No, that’s not the case, but if someone comes in for someone and says, ‘We like them, we want them, we’re going to prolong their contract’, then we would be fair to certain individuals.
“But there’s no-one on the transfer list, there’s no-one that we want to get rid of, because they’re not pulling their weight, because everyone’s rowing on this boat.”
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