Ex-Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder believes Luton are 'very blessed' to have Ross Barkley

Former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas believes Luton are ‘very blessed’ to have his former team-mate Ross Barkley in their ranks after rediscovering his confidence to turn in some consistently outstanding performances for the Hatters this season.

The 36-year-old current assistant coach at Italian Serie B side Como was at Stamford Bridge between June 2014-19 when Barkley was snapped up by then Blues manager Antonio Conte for a fee of £15m in January 2018. Spending 18 months together in West London before Fabregas moved to French team Monaco, he has been left extremely impressed by the manner in which the England international has settled into life at Kenilworth Road.

Having scored three goals in 18 matches for Town, with three assists as well, Barkley has been a real star since arriving in Bedfordshire, described by a number of Town fans as the best player they have ever seen in an orange shirt. Watching from afar, Fabregas knows they are lucky to be witnessing a player of his potential reach his best form, as speaking to the BBC Planet Premier League podcast, he said: “He's playing at a fantastic level.

"I'm very happy for him because he lost his way a little bit, he lost his confidence and now he's back at it, You always need a player like this when you are in a team for example that didn’t have the confidence that they wanted. At Luton they were struggling and then when you see now that they have a proper idea of how they want to play.

"Everyone understands and then you have this player in midfield when you play against Manchester City for example, when you lose the ball, they press and you have a player that can hold on to the ball for two, three seconds, make that next pass forward and make the team tick. It makes such a difference because it brings so much relief to the team. I think he’s bringing all his experience and leadership to this team and it’s very needed because every time he’s on the ball things happen for Luton and they are very blessed to have him.”

With Barkley joining Chelsea as very much an attacking midfielder having come through the ranks at Everton, although he is still very much a threat at the top end of the pitch, as shown by his goal and assist in the 4-4 draw with Newcastle United recently, he has been deployed in a deeper role by Town boss Rob Edwards.

Fabregas is confident Barkley’s ability and fitness levels has seen him switch seamlessly to his new role following a year out in France with Nice, adding: “He's surrounded by good players, but solid players defensively, so he can also have the license to go forward, even if he plays in a double pivot. He needs to be a little bit more responsible from his early days, but I always saw Ross as an eight, more box-to-box.

"Physically, he’s a machine, physically, he’s one of the best, or the fittest players I played with, and he has adapted to this, but especially the personality he plays with, I think he’s the stand-out for this Luton side.

"To play with players of his personality that gives you those one, two seconds extra in possession of the ball and makes things happen, makes things tick as you can not be 90 minutes defending, especially against teams like Man City or Man United. You need to hold on to the ball for a little bit to create for your team-mate and definitely he’s the guy to do it and he’s doing that very well.”