Hatters boss warns Nombe has to do more if he wants a future at Luton

Striker Sam Nombe has been told in no uncertain terms by manager Nathan Jones that he needs to 'do more' if he is going to have a future at Luton Town.

The 22-year-old moved to Kenilworth Road on a season-long loan from League One MK Dons in October with a view to a permanent move, but has made just one start, in the FA Cup, and played six times in the league, all from the bench, his last outing at Blackburn Rovers in a 1-0 defeat in January.

Nombe has even missed out on the match-day squad recently, returning at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night, although didn’t make it on to the pitch as the visitors triumphed 1-0.

When asked his progress this afternoon, Jones took the opportunity to dish out a warning to the young forward, saying: “He needs to do more, he needs to do more, so if he reads this, he needs to do more and he knows that.

“He has certain attributes that we really like and we need at this football club but he needs to do more.

"I’m not going to go into detail with that because I don’t, but he needs to do more, so I’m telling everyone else out there, that he needs to do more.

“If he wants to be a Luton Town player and really wants that hunger and desire and heart to play for this football club then he needs to do more.

"I hope he does because he has some wonderful attributes, some really wonderful attributes, but we’ve got a group here that trample on things to get to the next level and would die for the club and really give everything.

"If Sam Nombe wants to have a career at Luton, he has to do that.”

When asked what Nombe needs to do to give himself a chance of remaining at the Hatters beyond this season, Jones added: "It’s not just (being) better, he needs to do more, is what I’m saying, so I’ll leave that there.

"People can read into that whatever they want and he knows, so I’m not saying anything out of turn.

"I very rarely do this, but I’m saying that we’ve always had a hunger here, always had a hunger and desire to really, really do well and we love players that have that hunger, we've loved and thrived on it.

"We still have it now as we can't compete financially with anyone in his Championship so what we do is with hunger and work and good recruitment and we don't want to make a mistake with Sam Nombe.

"So now Sam Nombe has to step up and go 'I want to play for this club, I want to be here, I want to make you better' and ability-wise he will.

"So that's what we want from him and I hope he does as he's a nice kid, he settles in well, but he has to get above players that have done fantastically well for this football club.”