Jones expects the likes of Arsenal and Spurs to be checking out Hatters' youngsters

The Mirror ran a story this week claiming that the White Hart Lane club, for whom former Hatters chief David Pleat is a scout, were monitoring the progress of the 17-year-old, who recently penned a three-and-a-half year deal with Luton.

Jones didn’t think the Premier League title-chasers would be the only clubs casting an eye on his players either, saying “I would imagine that Spurs, Arsenal and the top Premier League clubs would be looking at a number of our lads because it’s only good practice.

“We have done very well on a very limited budget in terms of our young players. They’ve had a fantastic run in the cup, they’ve won the league, they’ve got to the League Cup final, so I would imagine it would be naive or unprofessional of bigger clubs not to have an eye on our players.

“Now I can’t speculate on what the papers are saying, that’s fine, but he’s under contract here, we’re happy, we see a pathway for him, and he’s one we’re excited about.”

Jones also believes it’s a compliment for the U18s coaching structure in place at Kenilworth Road that the likes of Bakinson are attracting attention, although he wants them to make a name for themselves with Luton first.

He added: “Of course, that’s the type of thing we want to have here, we want to have good enough players so that top clubs are recognising, not looking to get them, but recognising we’re doing good work here, and that’s all we can do.

“Paul Driver has done magnificently with that group, they all want to train, all want to play, all want to work hard and it’s fantastic.

“We’re happy that we’ve got him (Bakinson) here, happy to have a number of our young ones here under contact and hopefully they will develop at the rate that we can put them in the first team.”