McManaman agrees it was the ‘perfect moment’ to join Town

On bringing in the 28-year-old winger last week, Jones had said: “He is the type of player that when he gets a really good pre-season under his belt, that Luton Town supporters will really enjoy watching.

“I think we’ve signed a player at the perfect moment in his career.”

It was something that McManaman believed too after his last two campaigns, which has seen him make just 14 league starts for Sunderland and Wigan Athletic.

He said: “Definitely, it’s another thing he said when I spoke to him, which kind of took me back.

“He was saying what I believed the last few years, but no-one else has said it.

“He said, ‘you’ve not played enough the last few years, so because you haven’t played as many games the last few years, you’ll be able to play for even longer.’

“He still thinks he can get me back going again and get me playing again and doing what I used to do against the top teams.”

Highlights of just what McManaman can do are easily accessible on the internet, in particular his man of the match display against Manchester City when Wigan won the FA Cup 1-0 back in 2013.

Jones wants the winger to repeat those performances regularly, and McManaman added: “That was when I was on top of my game and as confident as you can be.

“But that’s when I was playing high up the pitch and I haven’t really done that since.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve still been playing wide, but it was a different kind of tactic then.

"Two stayed up, me and Arouna Kone and we worked on it all week in training, it was like an inside forward.

“So I was on the half-way line and getting the ball, attacking people and doing what I’m good at, instead of doing all the donkey work for 60 minutes and then coming off knackered.”