LUTON Town have granted permission to Saints to speak with their boss Nathan Jones.

The 49-year-old Welshman is the red-hot favourite to replace Ralph Hasenhuttl, who was sacked this morning.

Jones is currently in his second spell in charge of Luton. He guided them to promotion from League Two in 2018, before leaving halfway through their promotion season from League One, to join Stoke City.

After 10 months with the Potters, Jones was sacked.

The former Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder returned to the Hatters in May 2020 and was named EFL Championship manager of the season after taking them into the play-offs, where they were edged out by Huddersfield.

Luton currently sit eighth in the table and head to Jones's former employers Stoke tomorrow evening.

And the Bedfordshire outfit have confirmed they will allow Saints to speak with Jones, after the trip to the bet365 Stadium.

A statement from Luton read: "Luton Town Football Club can confirm that permission has been granted to Southampton to speak to Nathan Jones about their managerial vacancy following the Hatters’ match at Stoke City.

"We would like to place on record that the Premier League club have approached the board in the correct manner, for which we are grateful, and that the whole situation is extremely amicable with Southampton and with Nathan.

"We would also like to urge all supporters travelling to Stoke to show him and the team your support on what we hope will be yet another memorable away day.

"As a club we will not be making any further comment until the process is complete."

Ruben Selles will take charge of Saints for their Carabao Cup clash with Sheffield Wednesday on Wednesday.

Saints head to Anfield to face Liverpool on Saturday in their final Premier League match before the World Cup break.

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