Luton boss hopeful that fans favourite Ross Barkley will stay at Kenilworth Road
England international has reportedly been interesting a number of Premier League clubs
Hatters boss Rob Edwards is remaining hopeful that Town supporters haven’t seen the last of star midfielder Ross Barkley in a Luton shirt.
The 30-year-old has had a magnificent first season at Kenilworth Road after signing as a free agent in the summer following his departure from French Ligue One side Nice. Moving to Bedfordshire as he looked to reignite his career in England, after getting over an early injury, the former Everton and Chelsea star came back into the starting line-up for the trip to Aston Villa on October 29 and never looked back, showing remarkable durability to begin every single one of the club’s following 32 league and cup matches.
With Luton’s Premier League stay set to be ended after Sunday’s home match with Fulham, a number of fans are already resigned to losing Barkley in the coming months, the midfielder admitting himself recently that he would still like to stay in top flight and also play in Europe again, while also still having an ambition to add to his 33 England caps too, Manchester United one of the clubs linked to his signature.
However, he has also stated never previously being part of a team that is as close as the Hatters, and speaking to the press today, Edwards doesn’t think his exit is a foregone conclusion as Town eye an immediate return to the highest tier of English football next term, saying: “We’ve had a good chat and we want to be open and honest with each other. Ross is an ambitious person and like we all are, we all want to be at the top, competing at the top.
"But he recognises what this club has done for him at the same time, what we’ve been able to do for each other. He’s loved this season and he loves the club, so if I speak openly and frankly, nothing really is off the table. We’re really hopeful that he will stay, but we’re also realistic in this day and age what could happen as well and not just him, there might be one or two others.
"But that doesn’t mean that him and one or two others are going to go either. We are in control of a lot of these things as well, so it will be an interesting few months. We are committed to being as strong as possible to go into the next season. Our aim is to keep the group together and Ross is a really important player for us, so that’s what we want.”
Barkley has certainly gone down a storm with the Hatters fans this season, as he picked up the Fans' Player of the Year award at the club sponsors and end of season dinner on Tuesday night. That followed on from being named Player of the Season, Signing of the Season and the Junior Supporters’ Player of the Season at the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust presentation night the week before, showing just what a popular acquisition the experienced midfielder has been.
Asked if that could sway him into staying, Edwards continued: “It does play a factor, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Look at Thomas Kaminski over the last couple of evenings when he’s got his awards and you hear people singing his name, it must feel incredible that. I don’t think there’s any doubt supporters can play their part when they show their love for a player.
"I never really had that as a player very often so I can only imagine it’s quite nice to have them all singing your name. It’s great and it’s what I spoke about to him on the phone when we were trying to sign him, that you can be a real hero and he’s really beginning to become that. I think his performances have been great and it’s nice that he’s picked up some awards in the two evenings. There’s a number of them that have picked up awards and had really, really good seasons, but he is a special player and it’s nice that he’s been recognised with that.”
The only downside for Edwards is that Barkley won’t add to his 37 outings, five goals and four assists against Fulham on Sunday after he went off with an injured calf during the 3-1 defeat at West Ham that all but sealed Town’s fate, joining defender Reece Burke in the treatment room. The boss added: “Burkey and Ross will both be out unfortunately. Burkey’s Achilles is too sore, we’ll take him out of it now, he's been playing through some pain and Ross will be out for a number of weeks, three or four weeks, so he’ll miss the final one unfortunately.”