'Belief' was the key reason behind Doughty's decision to leave Stoke for Luton

Luton’s first addition of the summer, Alfie Doughty, admitted the belief shown in him by Hatters boss Nathan Jones was the defining factor in his decision to join on a permanent deal from Stoke City.

The 22-year-old was unveiled as Town’s opening signing of the transfer window on Monday evening, the Hatters shelling out an undisclosed fee to bring him in after 18 months at the bet365 Stadium.

Having been on Jones’ radar during his time at Charlton Athletic, Doughty had been snapped up by the Potters instead back in January 2021, while he finished last term on loan at Cardiff City, featuring as the Hatters ran out 1-0 winners in Wales.

However, he is now a Town player and when asked what it was Jones had said when persuading him to join, Doughty told the club’s official website: "He just showed belief in me that I haven’t really found in myself recently.

"With him telling me what he believes I can do, then it was a no-brainer really.

"I'm putting a lot of trust in him and I can't wait.

"I’m looking forward to it. I’m very excited, it is a fresh start and I want to get started straight away."

Alongside Jones’ now infamous presentation, Doughty only had to look at how Luton, who reached the play-offs last term, have improved on the field since winning promotion back to the second tier, to help make his mind up.

He continued: “I think they're just getting better and better, everyone can see that, and I think the league knows that as well.

"That's what made me come here as well.

"Getting top 10 the year before and then last year, top six, you can just tell that the team is getting better and better and that was one of the reasons why I'm here.”

Doughty got a close view of just how good Town were last term, albeit for 19 minutes, when the Hatters travelled across the Severn Bridge to face the Bluebirds.

Injured early on, the former Addick watched from the sidelines as Harry Cornick’s header secured all three points, although Luton lost James Shea, James Bree and Fred Onyedinma during the game too.

He added: “Throughout the whole season it was easy to watch, especially that game as well, you could see how much it means to everybody.

"I think there was one player carrying a really bad injury and he still carried on, so the momentum of this team is top class.”