Graeme Jones has admitted that his transfer shopping is ‘not great’ at present with Luton finding that their identified targets are earning double the amount of Town’s top stars.
The manager, who brushed off rumours around defenders Jamie Sterry of Newcastle United and Bailey Wright of Bristol City, has previously said the club won’t break their wage structure and will have to ‘wheel and deal’.
Asked how the ten days of January window was going, Jones said: “Not great, if I’m honest with you. I’d love to tell you different. We’ve been in for a few but, obviously, the restrictions that we’ve got is putting us way down the list.
“You’re talking about some players that we’ve all identified, that we all like, that we’ve spoken to, are on double our best paid salary and are not even in some Championship first teams. That’s the reality of it.
“We’ll keep looking, we’ll keep trying. I think everybody knows we’re trying to reenergise it, but I’m not interested in quantity, I’m really, really not. It has got to be somebody who is going to improve us, which is difficult under the circumstances.”
Asked if there was any information about the Sterry and Wright rumours, Jones said: “Not really. I can assure you, we’ve done homework and watched games on a lot of people, but there comes a point where they have to be achievable, or I’m getting distracted from preparing the team for Birmingham.
“It has been a little bit frustrating from that point of view because I want to try to add to the group. I want to add to the dynamics and the energy here and I haven’t been able to, so far.”
And with Jones admitting after the Hatters’ 4-0 FA Cup third round exit on Saturday that Izzy Brown is close to an early return, the onus is on trying to facilitate that to give his squad a boost.
He said: “I’ve focused my attention on making sure we get Martin Cranie, Dan Potts and Izzy Brown fit after this weekend and that they are robust enough that they won’t get injured again.
“I know that five or six weeks ago we were a really competitive Championship side with them three players in the team and that’s where my focus has been.”
