Having joined the Foxes from the Hatters in the summer transfer window – in what was a record sale for Tuesday night’s hosts – Justin is yet to make a first team appearance in competitive football for the King Power Stadium based outfit, but Jones anticipates that to change.
He said; “That was the sad part of the job for me, coming in when you’ve got two really dominant full-backs – I saw Jack Stacey play on Friday and you see what he brings to the show, James Justin exactly the same. You come in and you haven’t got those players available, which is disappointing, but I think what everyone needs to remember is what he did for the football club, what both of them did.
“But obviously James is coming back, how luck would have it. I expect him to make his debut tomorrow night for Leicester, so you’d think we will give him a warm reception and then make it as difficult as we can for him, so I look forward to seeing him. I am aware of what James Justin can do, he was regarded as possibly our best player here – he hasn’t played for Leicester yet, so it gives you an idea of the level.”
With Justin and now Bournemouth right-back Jack Stacey both given recognition at the end of last season for their performances in a Luton shirt, Jones was asked how he feels the squad have fared since their departure.
“We’ve tried to get on with it and done OK,” he explained. “Saturday was a set-back, but we are a work in progress here and we have been competitive in every game – even the QPR game, for large slices. Saturday as well, it was just disappointing the last seven minutes. We should have been knocking at the door trying to get back in the game, so you take that out and we have done OK. We keep progressing and tomorrow night will help bring the squad further.
“There’s competition for places – when you get beaten at home like that, you have to look at the whole group and then there’s a group of players that might be involved tomorrow night that are in a good place physically, where three or four weeks ago I think they weren’t, so I think it’s going to be an interesting week.
“Saturday’s game against Blackburn is as important, I think you have got to be competitive in both. The first priority is Leicester City and making sure we don’t kill ourselves on Tuesday night for Saturday. So there’s a lot of thinking to be done, we’ve got another training session, we have got a meeting and then we will make a decision from there.”
