Nathan Jones has hailed Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder for trusting Luton with Welsh international Rhys Norrington-Davies and for confirming he wants the full back to remain with the Hatters for the rest of the season.
The 21-year-old joined the Hatters on a season-long loan and, after an impressive start to life with the club was called into Ryan Giggs’ Wales side, winning his first senior cap.
Norrington-Davies’ form in his 17 appearances for Luton had seen him linked with other clubs and when the defender last week signed a new long-term deal to keep him at parent club the Blades until 2024, there were rumours that his recall option could be enacted in January.
However, United manager Wilder confirmed that he wants the youngster to see out his loan at Kenilworth Road, saying: “No recall from Luton, we want him to stay there for. the season and start building a career for himself.”
In response, Jones said: “(I’ve got) great respect for Chris, so the fact he trusts us with him is very good.
“And I would be biased, but it is the right thing to do, because he’s getting an education here away from Sheffield United, but I’m pretty sure it would be a similar education in terms of discipline, in terms of development, in terms of what Chris expects from his teams, or his full backs, or his wing backs.
“I do exactly the same, so I think it’s a parallel experience he would be getting and getting real good game time. So, it’s all an education as he’s still young and he needs to learn and he wants to learn, then the boy could have a fantastic career.
“We’re pretty sure he will go back to Sheffield United and have that great career and what a great manager to be working under, so we’re delighted with that.
“We respect that from Chris, we thank him for it, but we believe that we would do a similar job for him in terms of repaying the faith that they’ve given us.”
Norrington-Davies is the second young loan prospect at Luton this term that has committed his long-term future to their parent club, after impressive midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall penned a new deal with Leicester City.
In previous seasons, Town were always reluctant to take on loan players.
Jones said: “We never ever want to take loans, but when we identify certain people that we think can take the club forward then we try to sign them permanently.
“If we can’t sign them then we’ll usually move to the next available one that we can sign, but we felt in certain instances that it was worth the gamble, or worth the risk of not being able to sign them permanently to get them, because what they would provide being in the building, so that’s what we did.
“It’s the same with Kiernan, so it is a shame, but we’ve chosen to move the club forward and we want to move the club forward on all levels, and we felt this was a calculated risk.
“So, we’re delighted to have both players, we would like them to be our players and you never know in the future, but one thing, if they go back and don’t quite make it at their clubs, at least we’re at the front of the queue.”
