Jones: Moncur is becoming a 'proper player' for the Hatters now

Luton boss Nathan Jones believes the club have now got a ‘proper player’ on their hands with midfielder George Moncur.

The 27-year-old signed for the Hatters back in January 2019, just after Jones himself left the club to join Stoke City, but has struggled to nail down a regular berth in the team since, despite scoring some fabulous goals.

He began four times as Town went on to win the League One title, before being restricted to just one league start in the Championship last term.

Moncur also kicked this season off on the bench, and could have actually left the club in the transfer window, but opted to stay put and fight for his place, rewarded by starting four of the last six matches, scoring twice.

The ex-West Ham youngster bagged the opener in Wednesday night's 3-1 win over leaders Norwich City at Kenilworth Road with a quite brilliant curling effort from just inside the area, as Jones said afterwards: “The good thing about George is, especially when he’s on this side (by the dug-outs) first half, you can keep on to him, because out of possession, that’s not one of his massive, massive strengths, but he’s getting there.

“I make no bones about it, he would have a host of League One clubs wanting to take him.

"I said, ‘you can keep taking the easy option and going back to League One and being the best player in League One, or you can knuckle down, dedicate yourself and start impacting on the Championship.’

“As in the Championship you can't carry passengers, we can’t carry a passenger.

"George is now contributing massively out of possession and then still doing the things he is in possession, so now we’ve got a proper player on our hands.”

Fellow goalscorer Matty Pearson always had confidence that his team-mate could produce at this level too, adding: “We all know Moncs, he’s got that magic, it’s not the first time he’s done it and I don’t think it will be the last time he does it.

“He’s one of those players you just want to get on the ball and give him that in front of goal as he’ll get you goals and he’s proven that.”