Carlos Mendes-Gomes says Nathan Jones’ own football story means he has things in common with the Luton manager and they all added to the “class” chat he had that convinced the winger to sign for the Hatters.
With a reported £500,000 price tag, Town saw off competition from other Championship clubs last week to secure the signing off the Spaniard, who’s journey to Kenilworth Road has been anything but conventional.
Mendes-Gomes was born in Senegal, but moved to Lanzarote as a child and then travelled on his own aged 15 to join the Spanish capital where he played for Getafe before switching to Atletico Madrid, playing in the La Liga champions’ B-side along with players like Koke.
But his father took a job in Manchester and the attacker, unable to speak English, followed his family to north-west England, not playing for a year.
Mendes-Gomes turned out for tenth-tier side West Didsbury & Chorlton before being spotted by League Two side Morecambe and, after two stop-start season, last term he scored the play-off final winner that sent the Shrimps to League One for the first time in their history.
But he was tipped to move on and one of Jones’ infamous presentations helped seal the deal. But with a playing career that was almost the reverse of Mendes-Gomes’, there was even more common ground.
The Welshman moved to Luton in 1995 from his homeland but never played a game and then took the brave step of moving to Spain to kick-start his career, joining Segunda División club Badajoz and then Segunda División B side Numancia before returning to England in 1997 with Southend.
Now assembling a Luton side the he hopes to can build on last term’s 12th placed finish to challenge for the Championship play-offs, Jones made Mendes-Gomes his seventh signing of the summer, and all of the new recruits have spoken glowingly of how the manager has convinced them to join the project.
“To Be fair, he gave me a presentation. He came with a plan and showed me how organised he is as a person, and the club itself. He spoke with a passion that not many people actually did,” said the 22-year-old.
“He speaks Spanish as well and he played abroad, so he knows how it feels to be far from home. So, from me coming from Manchester to Luton, he can actually feel that.
“The way that he spoke to me was class. Obviously, that’s what you want from a manager, especially when you’re moving clubs. I really liked the chat that we had.
“I think it’s a club going in only one direction, I spoke to the gaffer and the way that he actually presented himself and the club, I felt his passion and that’s something that played a key part in me signing for Luton Town.
Asked what Jones said to him, Mendes-Gomes said that the manager “wants all his players to actually play for the shirt and I’m willing to do that, the passion that he showed towards the club and the people I met that were all lovely, my family as well felt it was the right place too, so here I am.
“There were a few other clubs that were interested, but I felt like Luton Town was the right place for my progress, for me to actually enjoy football and for me to improve as a player, I think I’m at the right place, my family felt the same way, and the manager as well, the way that he spoke to me played a big, big, big part, so Luton Town were the right choice.”
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