Club

Nathan Jones summer round-up | Part One

Manager Nathan Jones insists his players have come back in good shape and is eager to build on what the club achieved last season.

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With the addition of new faces, as well as keeping key players, Jones is hopeful that the Hatters can perform as they did last term after a promising return to training.

“We’ve been back in for five or six days now and it has been very good," said the Gaffer. "The lads have come back in good shape, which we expected them to anyway. It has only been a short break, but they’ve had a good rest.

"We’ve come back and we’ve managed to add a few bodies as well, and those who had a year with us now will be better for that, so we’re in good shape.”

On the transfer front, the Welshman added: “It’s always going to be a tougher window because what we’re trying to effectively do is add better. Now there are two problems with that.

"One we’ve got a really good, fantastic squad anyway, and then to get better on our budget is again, slightly difficult, or is challenging at times. But we’ve been bold, we’ve been brave, we’ve been backed once again by Gary and the board.

"We've managed to bring in Cauley, managed to bring in Alfie Doughty, two people that will improve us significantly and those are the types of signing we’ve gone after.

"Then the goalkeeping department we want to strengthen. We've managed to bring Matt Macey in. God willing, there's going to one imminent as well.

“In terms of people we’ve lost, Danny and Kal, two big players, big characters for us and they’ll be difficult to replace, but that’s the challenge."

On further potential additions to his squad, Jones went on: “We’re looking to bring in two midfield players and one attacking player, and we’d like to sign another defender as well.

"That’s what we want to do, then that will be us done. Effectively you could see four coming in, we’ll have to see. We’ve got big numbers now, so one or two would need to go out, but we’re in a real strong position for a first week of pre-season.

"All we’re looking to do now is add quality, not just bodies. We’ve got bodies, we’ve got a fantastic squad already, but we still want to push boundaries and get better, because historically, we’ve got better every year."

Jones believes Paul Hart's move into the academy director role will help make the transition of players from the development squad into the senior group smoother, with the potential for the likes of Dion Pereira, Josh Neufville and Elliot Thorpe to get further experience out on loan.

On the Championship transfer front in general, he added: "I haven't taken too much notice of anything, its been a slow window. People will strengthen, people will make decisions, they'll wait. I'm not concerned with the level of other people, all I'm concerned is with us.

"If we're the best version of ourselves, we're actually a good team and that's all I can concentrate on.

"Some will be favourites. We were relegation favourites, or in the group of three or four that the bookies though would go down. We surpassed that, so you just never know."

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