Southampton have appointed Nathan Jones to replace Ralph Hasenhuttl as the club’s new manager on a three-and-a-half-year contract.
Jones, who has left Luton to take over the Saints, signed his contract with the Premier League club on Wednesday before seeing them beat Sheffield Wednesday in a Carabao Cup penalty shootout.
He will be joined by coaches Chris Cohen and Alan Sheehan, and Sky Sports News understands a compensation package of around £2.5m will be paid to the Championship club.
Jones faces a daunting first match in charge at home to Liverpool on Saturday (kick-off 3pm) in Southampton’s last fixture before the World Cup.
Jones said: “I’m really proud to be given this opportunity. I know a lot about the club from back in the days of The Dell, to coming here to St Mary’s, and it’s a wonderful football club.
“A lot of my family are Southampton fans, which doesn’t half help, and I feel really, really proud to be given the opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to getting started.
“Obviously, I wanted to manage in the Premier League, I’ve dreamt of that since I’ve become a coach or a manager, but this club in particular – because of how it’s run, because of the structure, because of how they look deeper than just results – really appeals to me.”
Jones was in charge of Luton for the second time; the first time, he guided the team to the Championship Play-Off Semifinals, where they fell to Huddersfield. When he was first hired, he also led the team to automatic promotion from League Two.
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Jones departed the team in 2019 to join Stoke, but after nine unsuccessful months as manager, he was fired and came back to the Hatters in May of the following year. After 20 games, Luton is ninth in the Championship, two points off of the play-off spots.
