Hatters' out of contract striker James Collins linked with a move to Cardiff City

Luton striker James Collins has been heavily linked with a move to Town's Championship rivals Cardiff City.

The 30-year-old is out of contract at Kenilworth Road this summer and had been rumoured to be interesting Middlesbrough and Bristol City, but reports from Wales seem to suggest the Bluebirds are leading the race for his signature.

Collins finished as the Hatters' top scorer once more this term, netting 13 goals, the third season in a row he has done so, but saw his game time limited once Elijah Adebayo arrived from Walsall in the January transfer window.

He only started four of the final 16 matches and after scoring the winner against Watford, admitted it had been 'disappointing' not featuring as much as he would have wanted.

Cardiff are in the market for a striker themselves, with chairman Mehmet Dalman telling Radio Wales Sport last week: "We have identified three or four targets.

"A couple of offers have gone out - I believe as of this afternoon one was accepted - but we'll see what happens.

"It's no secret - we need to bring more quality into the team and we need a striker to support Kieffer (Moore) up top, who's done a brilliant job for us."

A big factor in Collins' potential move would be to link up with manager Mick McCarthy who gave him his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 2019, the striker going on to find the net twice in his eight caps so far.

Collins, who has scored 72 times in 183 appearances since joining from Crawley in the summer of 2017, is one of a number out of contract with Town, who are yet to announce their retained list, as the futures of club captain Sonny Bradley, George Moncur, Matty Pearson, Dan Potts, Kazenga LuaLua, Martin Cranie and Ryan Tunnicliffe remain unclear.