Can Barkley re-kindle undoubted natural talent?

Geoff Doyle, BBC Three Counties Radio

One of the benefits of football clubs’ training ground social media videos is the opportunity they give you to see which players are or aren’t training. So when, on Monday, Luton posted shots of the squad working hard at The Brache most will have detected that Reece Burke was with the group.

This is good news. The Hatters have been light in central defence and have had three out; Burke, Gabe Osho and Dan Potts. At Brighton, Luton played Mads Andersen, Tom Lockyer and Amarii Bell. That’s not a bad three at the heart of defence but if you really drill down Andersen was playing in League One last season, Bell is essentially a wing-back who converted to centre-half six months ago and Lockyer had his heart scare in the summer.

Having Burke back is a huge positive, particularly considering his display in the Championship play-off final when he came on for Lockyer. Getting the other two back is the next goal, particularly Osho who, of the six, is possibly the most comfortable in possession and probably the fastest.

Rob Edwards’ team selection at Chelsea on Friday will again be interesting. Ross Barkley has had a week training with his new team and could feature. What an intriguing one; what might Luton get from Barkley?

I watched him play live for the first time nearly 10 years ago to the day when he was 19 and was in the Everton team that beat Stevenage in the early rounds of the League Cup. I was convinced he was going to become the next big thing. For a central midfielder he seemed to have everything. His development has stalled for some reason probably only known to himself. But given a consistent run of games it’s hoped he might re-kindle that amazing natural talent he undoubtedly possesses.

Chelsea have injury problems and might be slightly weaker but there shouldn’t be too much sympathy considering they’ve dished out about £900m on players in the last 14 months. That’s about 30 times what Luton have spent.

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