Graeme Jones is training his transfer focus on players with Championship experience, but says he won’t rule out the European markets amid rumours of a move for Dinamo Zagreb winger Izet Hajrovic.
Reports from the 28-year-old’s home nation of Bosnian & Herzegovina have suggested the Hatters are keen on the international who has fallen out of favour this season, with his Croatian club said to be willing to release him on a free transfer.
Jones has revealed that some to Town’s top targets are on double the salary of his top-earning players, which puts them out of his reach as the club will not break their current wage structure.
Asked if he’s looking abroad for new recruits, Jones said: “I would always be open to good players, I don’t care where they came from. For this particular window, we’re short of Championship experience as a group. That would be a priority.
“But Championship experience costs a lot of money. It really does cost a lot of money.
“In an ideal world, that’s what I want. It would be easy if I had £10million. Believe me, some of the players that have gone in this window so far, they’ve been identified and we can’t get them. That’s just the truth.
“I could give you a list of people that I’d like but they have to be achievable. So far they haven’t been, but that doesn’t mean to say that there’s not gems out there. That doesn’t mean to say that we’re not working. That doesn’t mean to say that we’re not looking at all markets, because we are.
“But, in an ideal world, we’re looking at the Championship market, for that Championship experience, (for someone) who knows what’s coming, who’s got Championship games under their belt recently, so you haven’t got that step (up) of being robust and competitive for three games a week. That would be, preferably, where I’d like to go.”
While the focus is on players coming into the club during this transfer window, asked if any offers have been made for his players, Jones said: “Honestly, to my knowledge, no.
“I don’t want to lose our best players. We want to add to our best players. I think any football manager will tell you that.”
