Boyd officially a Luton player

Boyd: The third pre-season signing of the season

The 24-year old, who scored 29 goals in his best ever season for Hartlepool United in 2004-05, has been signed for £500,000 and will wear the number eight shirt recently vacated by Kevin Nicholls, who signed for Leeds United. Boyd will not feature in the pre-season friendly on Saturday against Barnet. He will probably be a straight swap for Howard, as he is described by Newell, who worked with him at Hartlepool, as good in the air and a scorer of all types of goals. The pressure will be on Boyd because of his high fee - he cost Luton ten times the amount we paid Northampton for Steve Howard.

Boyd has become the third pre-season signing for Luton, after Richard Langley and Lewis Emmanuel. More signings are expected by Newell, possibly in the form of season-long loans.