A deal to sign Kazenga LuaLua was revived because of Graeme Jones’ persistence, the Luton manger has revealed.
Negotiations came to an end early in July with both the club and the forward announcing that they’d reached an impasse and would be going their separate ways.
But last week, the 28-year-old, who’d become a fan favourite last term, was announced as Jones’ sixth signing.
Explaining the turnaround, Jones said: “I never let it go. Obviously, the club had their stance and Kaz had his stance and I was the middle man. I really, really like the player and I made sure we stayed in touch and found an agreement.
“You know, any kind of contract, these things are a process and it takes time and luckily we got him back through the door. I managed to reach an agreement. We’ve dipped him in and out of training sessions in the last four days and you can see his quality and his natural talent, so we’re hopeful.”
LuaLua was not in the squad for Saturday’s 5-1 pre-season defeat to Norwich and Jones ruled him out of the Championship opener at home to Middlesbrough, as he’s not had a full pre-season.
“If we put Kaz in on Friday night, we’re going to repeat a cycle that’s happened regularly during his career and there’s only one thing going to happen, he’s going to break down,” said Jones.
“He needs a period of volume; he needs to work for long periods in order that when we up the intensity of training he can sustain it, because he’s got enough work in his body. So, he’s in that programme at the minute.”
Jones also confirmed that Danny Hylton and Alan Sheehan are back in training.
