Barkley hopes Hatters fans can remain patient as he looks to get back to his best for Luton

Midfielder Ross Barkley hopes Luton fans can stay patient with him as he puts in the work to ensure he gets back to his very best for the Hatters this term.

The 29-year-old, who has played over 230 Premier League games for Everton, Chelsea and Aston Villa, brought some real excitement from Town supporters when his surprise addition was announced in the summer, after leaving French side Nice.

With no real pre-season behind him, Barkley struggled to get fully going in his first four outings for his new club, starting in the early defeats to Chelsea and West Ham United.

His progress to where he wanted to be was then curtailed by another slight injury which kept him out for a month until getting a brief run-out in the 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur.

However, a fortnight off due to the Euro 2024 qualifiers meaning he could get some uninterrupted training under his belt has been a huge benefit, the ex-England international coming on at Nottingham Forest on Saturday with his side 1-0 behind.

Running the show for the final 20 minutes, although Luton quickly concede again, his distribution and obvious class when in possession, allowed Town to rescue a point, courtesy of goals from Chiedozie Ogbene and Elijah Adebayo.

Barkley admitted it has been hard when going through the process of trying to get match-fit during the rigours of a Premier League fixture, as he continued: “Yes, because you don't feel yourself and with games and training you get your sharpness.

"I can see the frustrations from fans, but they’ve just got to have a little bit of patience because the quality that I’ll add will come and the performances from players will come.

“I felt more like myself when I came on.

“I’ve had a lot of training under my belt now and some game time.

"I had a little injury, so I feel good now and I’m confident the team and I can build on it.

“I feel good, I’ve had a great two weeks which have been important for me.

"That was the plan really, to get a couple of minutes against Tottenham and then with these two weeks to push, I felt more like myself.

"My legs feel sharper in training, and in the game I felt like I was in cruise control when I came on, so it was good.”

The midfielder who has also won 33 caps for England in his career so far was quick to praise the way in which manager Rob Edwards has been with him since signing for the club, saying: “It’s been brilliant, he’s a great man.

"Since day one he’s been great with me, communicated with me every day, telling me what the club’s about and what he needs from me going forward this season.

“The manager is fair, so however you train, the manager is fair with how it is.

"He’s said from day one, how you train is how you play, so hopefully we can continue to get better.”

Edwards himself was eager to talk up the contribution from Barkley at the City Ground, adding: “I thought he was excellent, really, really good, really comfortable.

"He gave us the control that we wanted in that moment, understood the gameplan, where we wanted to try and find space, where we wanted to get the ball to.

"Ross was able to do that, so I’m very happy with his impact.

"He’s had a really good weeks training, he’s looking sharper all the time, so a real positive for us.”