Jones not sure when on-loan Stoke attacker Ince will be fit to start for Luton

Hatters chief won't risk deadline day addition until he is ready
New Town signing Tom InceNew Town signing Tom Ince
New Town signing Tom Ince

Luton boss Nathan Jones isn’t going to rush new signing Tom Ince into action after bringing the Stoke City attacker to Kenilworth Road for the rest of the season last week.

The 29-year-old certainly has some star quality to his name, having played in the Premier League and also representing England at U17, U19 and U21 level.

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Ince was on the bench for the 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town on Saturday though, only coming on for the final seven minutes, unable to help the Hatters find a late winner.

After featuring just seven times for the Potters this term and not starting since December 19, when asked just how much time it will take to get his recent addition fully fit to feature from the off for Town, Jones said: “I don’t know, but we’ll know when it is as we’ve got to get him up to speed quickly and we want to do that.

“We’ve got to do it safely as the last thing we want to do is force him, try to get him to play 90 and then suddenly he pulls a muscle and we don’t get what we need out of him.

“We’ve got 19 games, so imagine if we get Tom Ince at his best for 12, 14 of those games, then it’s been worthwhile and that’s what we’ve got to think of.

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“It’s making sure that he gets game time and gets up to speed as he hasn’t played since the end of December.

“So if you haven’t played since then, the Championships, an unforgiving league, to try and throw someone in really and expect them to impact and that’s the thing."