Hatters will tread carefully with summer signing Doughty following hamstring problem

Luton will tread carefully with recent addition Alfie Doughty after the wing-back picked up a hamstring problem during pre-season.

The 22-year-old was Nathan Jones’ first signing of the summer, joining for an undisclosed fee from Championship rivals Stoke City.

He began Town’s opening pre-season friendly against Hitchin and also played in matches against NK Bravo, Gillingham and Northampton, plus starting the 1-1 draw against West Ham United last month, withdrawn after 75 minutes for Dion Pereira.

However, he hasn’t been seen since due to a slight injury, something that has affected his career to date, seeing his 2020-21 campaign ended as early as October when at Charlton due to hamstring issues.

Following his move to Stoke in February 2021, he was then signed by Cardiff on loan last term, but had to sit out the final matches after an injury picked up in the 1-0 home defeat to Luton in April as the Hatters closed in on the play-offs.

With that in mind, Jones is very wary about rushing him back into the rigours of the Championship when not quite ready, saying: “Alfie had a few issues last year with hamstring, so we’ve got to be very careful with him.

"We’ve given him a pre-season where he’s had a base bit of work, he’s had a little minor issue with that and then we’ve got to make sure that we build it, rectify that and then bring him back in when it’s safe to do so.

"That’s all it is really, but he’s a very high speed athlete, really potent.

"So we have to make sure that we build that up as there are certain deficiencies there that we need to rectify before we can give him a run of games, but we’ve always been prepared to do that.”