Nathan Jones gave his first press conference since the transfer window shut on Monday, with the Hatters bringing in Tom Ince on loan from Stoke and signing Elijah Adebayo permanently from Walsall. Here’s everything the manager said about those players, the ones that got away and how Luton’s board helped him.
How did you rate your transfer window?
Jones said: “For us it’s been excellent. We brought in two permanent signings that we feel will be very good in different ways for us. Then we’ve added quality to the team and the squad, bringing Tom in, so we feel it’s been excellent.
“Obviously, Elliot, we’ve loaned out, but then we’ve got a load of younger players out, in terms of Peter Kioso, Josh Neufville, Gabby Osho, who are getting valuable game time which will add to their value.
“We feel it’s been a very good window, in terms of that productive week. We didn’t want to do too much business, but Kal (Naismith) was essential because we lost Rhys (Norrington-Davies). Tom became available and Elijah was one we would’ve done in the summer, but there became an opportunity to do now.”
How much did your relationship with Tom Ince help with the signing?
Jones said: “That’s good. I had a good relationship with him and a lot of the players there. I didn’t get the results needed but, in terms of the work, the structure and how I treated them as players, I don’t think many could have a problem with that, so I’ve got a good relationship with him.
“It didn’t quite work out but that’s fine and hopefully he can come in here now and reacquaint ourselves. We’ve got a good relationship and, hopefully, he can enjoy playing in our side.
“We’re delighted to have him and he’s fitted in really well. He’s a real good kid, to be fair. Sometimes he’s a little bit misunderstood, but we’re looking forward to having him here. Hopefully he’ll do well for us.”
Was Elijah Adebayo someone you’ve had on your radar for a while?
Jones said: “I think he catches a lot of people’s (eye) when you look at his goals, size, youth, athleticism and stuff. It was just who takes a gamble and thinks they can improve him. He’s a rough diamond, if you like, so he’ll need to be polished, shined and honed a little bit, but that’s what we have here.
“Someone of his size, if they’re ready-made, you’re looking at Tammy Abraham, and they cost £100million. We aren’t able to do that so we’ve got to make our own, and that’s what we hope.”
Was the Elijah Adebayo deal a late one that you had to monitor throughout the day?
Jones said: “Windows are really weird. We tried to do a little bit of business and we weren’t able to, which we’ll revisit, but that meant it freed up a place and that we could bump someone on.
“We tried to get someone but it wasn’t possible to do so, which we fully respect, which meant there was scope then to bump someone up from the summer window to now, and revisit the other one in the summer.
“It’s a constant thing here. We try to move forward, add certain stuff, so it was a late one, but we were never under any danger of not doing it. We made the decision at midday to do it when we knew that one wouldn’t go through.
“It was completed and the medical took a little longer because we had to book certain things in, which is difficult because of Covid, but apart from that it was all done and everyone happy.”
Was West Brom’s Kyle Edwards one of the players that you couldn’t get?
Jones said: “No. I understand people saying about that. We enquired about Kyle but he wasn’t available, which we knew pretty much straight away. Or, if he was available, he wasn’t available in the budget, because there’s things like loan fees and stuff now.
“We quite like Kyle but it’s wrong for us to speak about someone. We have a constant look at good players and who can improve us, athletically, physically, technically and in the 11. We have that constantly and some I hear we’ve been linked with and it’s absolutely, categorically no.
“But Kyle we know about, but he’s a West Brom player and that wasn’t possible. But that was just a quick phone call and we knew instantly that it wasn’t so we moved on quite quickly there.”
How much thanks do you give for the board for two permanent signings and Tom Ince?
Jones said: “It is huge. Everything is within budget and everything is sensible because we know that we do that. We’re very well run and Gary (Sweet, chief executive) does an unbelievable job and the board, if we ask for something.
“We’ve used a lot of adjectives and certain things, in terms of ‘well, we haven’t asked for a kangaroo’. We don’t. We ask for sensible stuff here and we always have to justify it, but in the past our record has been decent in terms of that.
“For the business that the club does, in terms of JJ, Jack Stacey, that helps, because the money we get for those the club reinvests. To be far to the board, it’s not like we’d sell Jack for a pound and we’re all taking 20p each. They don’t do that here. It all gets reinvested and that’s why we’ve got such a great board.
“We have a group chat and I thanked the board for the processes because there are processes in place at out club if we want to go for certain stuff and, look, sometimes we take a calculated gamble, but they’re quite prepared to do it.
“Not everything comes off, especially in January windows, because it’s a difficult one, but they’re an excellent board and we’ve got a fantastic chief exec that sees it.
“To be fair, Gary likes to get involved in that side, so when we identify someone he takes it over and he’s very good at what he does there, so we’re very thankful.
“Under no circumstances are we splashing cash and being frivolous because we understand, one, the position we’re in and, two, the finances at this football club don’t allow us to do that. We’re quite comfortable with that.
“But when something comes available then we have no problem of going for it.”
Were they any bids for your players?
Jones said: “No. No bids. Absolutely no bids. We didn’t welcome any and we thought we might get tested but we didn’t. It’s good for us because it would’ve taken something very, very big for us to lose anyone.
“We understand we have one or two out of contract, but that happens, and this is the place for them. When we want someone, we don’t wait and think we’ll get someone on the cheap. If we really want someone we go for them and that’s why the board have been very good here.”
