Hatters chief hints Luton were priced out of a move for Spurs defender Carter-Vickers

Luton chief Nathan Jones has hinted that the club were priced out of a move for Spurs defender Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The centre half excelled during his loan spell at Kenilworth Road last season, as after signing in January, he made 16 appearances, and was a major part of the club avoiding relegation back to League One with some brilliant displays at the heart of Town's defence.

He returned to north London once the campaign ended and has featured for Jose Mourinho's side in their pre-season friendlies so far, playing 90 minutes in the 1-0 win over Birmingham on Saturday.

Luton brought in centre half Tom Lockyer from Charlton Athletic on Tuesday and when asked if Carter-Vickers, who has another year left on his deal with Spurs, and is believed to be on wages way above Luton’s top earners, was out of Town's financial grasp, Jones said: “We'd like to bring Virgil van Dijk if we could, but we have a budget and certain players cost certain money.

“We’ve tried to strengthen in the best way we possibly, possibly could, the board have been fantastic.

“Everyone that I've asked them to try and sign they've gone after it, one we weren't able to secure, but the others we've been able to get.

“Gary (Sweet, chief executive) and the board have been superb, they’ve backed us in a real tight market because of everything.

“We know our budget is tight anyway, we have a structure here, but also we know that post Covid, it’s not over, but in terms of coming through, that pandemic has decimated a lot of finances at clubs and we've had to make adjustments as well.

“So we think we've strengthened in the best way we possibly, possibly could and we're very happy with the business we've done.

“We are stronger than we were a few months ago, a stronger squad than what we were at the end of last season, we believe that and that’s what we’ve tried to do.”

On his decision to bring in Lockyer, who is with the Wales squad for their Nations League tie against Finland this evening, Jones added: “We wanted to strengthen in that area, we felt we needed one in that area.

“We’ve had a real look at the options that were available and he was the one of the real strong ones.

“When we had the opportunity to get him, he fitted in with everything we wanted to do here.

“It was a very good signing for us, someone who's hungry to do well, someone who did well for Charlton last year and someone we're delighted to add to our squad.”