Luton Town

Aston Villa look set to complete a £5m deal to sign 30-year-old England midfielder Ross Barkley from Luton Town. (talkSPORT), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Everton have registered their interest in re-signing 30-year-old Luton Town midfielder Ross Barkley, but they are set to lose out to Aston Villa. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer news? Read Friday's full gossip column

Aston Villa have agreed a two-year deal, with the option of a further year, with 30-year-old English midfielder Ross Barkley, who can leave Luton Town after their relegation from the Premier League. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Image source, Reuters

How closely have you been paying attention to the Hatters' Premier League season?

Check out our Luton Town quiz - and see if your knowledge is in order.

Try it now

For all the club Premier League quizzes, head here

Image source, Getty Images

Luton Town's Premier League season was blighted by a significant number of injuries.

As Rob Edwards fought to keep the Hatters in the top-flight, they were missing 11 players in one game week, which is the joint-highest recorded in the campaign.

Research conducted for more than 20 years by the Premier Injuries website, external suggests that the total number of individual injuries across the league, where a player missed at least one Premier League game, was the highest they had recorded.

Many players suffered more than one injury.

Over the course of the season there were 35 separate injuries to players and 18 of Edwards' 26-man squad were ruled out at some point.

They missed a combined total of 1,428 days.

Although Luton were not the hardest-hit, in terms of injury numbers, the data suggests that they suffered a lot of injuries in a short period of time.

Read the full breakdown of injuries in the 2023-24 Premier League season

Image source, Getty Images

Luton Town have announced five players will be leaving the club at the end of their contracts.

Dan Potts, who has been with the club since 2015, and Luke Berry, who joined in 2017, are the two longest-serving players set to depart.

Fred Onyedinma, Elliot Thorpe and Admiral Muskwe will also be leaving at the end of their contracts.

Geoff Doyle
BBC 3CR sports editor

Has it been a season of progress, stagnation or indifference?

It is odd. For a side relegated out of the Premier League you would think this season would be viewed as a failure, but no. Despite heading back into the Championship the Hatters are in a far better position than 12 months ago. Millions more in the bank - which will help pay for the new stadium, a much better squad than when they won the play-off final and the ones they do sell in the summer are now worth a lot more money after proving themselves in the Premier League.

Luton will be one of the favourites to win the Championship next season as a result. What a statement! The club has been transformed after nearly going bust 16 years ago. Their pragmatic approach to life in the league has been a success.

Biggest success for club this season?

The fans' unwavering support. They watched their team lose 24 times but realised the difficulty of the level and how hard it would be to stay in the top tier. They stuck behind the team all the way through. The players played their part. They gave it everything and were in most games for long periods but they just came up short. The supporters recognised this and cheered them off the pitch in every game. Respect.

Biggest let down or frustration?

The points deductions fiasco. It has involved Luton all the way through and the lack of clarity over deductions/appeals/additions/interpretations/timelines has been ridiculous. It did not matter in the end but for the top league in the world to have all that going on across the season was embarrassing.

Key item on the summer agenda?

Keep hold of the manager. Rob Edwards has been a pivotal figure throughout a tumultuous campaign. He coped brilliantly with the Tom Lockyer situation for a young, relatively inexperienced manager and then tried to keep his side up against the odds.

I think he will stay as he has come to love the Luton 'experience' but players like Ross Barkley are surely off. The key then will be for Luton to get big money for them and invest wisely. The recruitment team at Kenilworth Road has been excellent in the past 10 years and they need another good summer to replace some top, top talents, including Barkley who has been a pleasure to watch, oozing out-and-out class.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 20th

Actual finish: 18th

Luton were everyone’s tip for relegation (including mine) but gave it a real crack and were right in the hunt to survive with three games to go.

In the end, they were just not quite good enough, often failing to hold on to winning positions or losing points they might have won.

Ross Barkley had a splendid season but may not fancy the Championship at this stage of his career, while a lengthy injury absence for excellent forward Elijah Adebayo was a real setback.

Read the rest of Phil McNulty's end-of-season Premier League report here

We asked you to select your Luton Town player of the season from the four candidates chosen by our fan contributor.

After voting in your thousands, we can reveal the winner is... Ross Barkley!

Image source, Getty Images

And here's what Ollie Kay from We Are Luton Town, external had to say about your winner...

"He has been widely discussed among the fanbase as "the best player to have worn the shirt". He might leave us, if we are to go down, but a lot of Hatters are happy to have watched a 33-capped England international play for our team. He is also grateful that we have breathed new life into his career, as he sits on five goals and six assists from midfield, as well as being statistically one of the most progressive midfielders in world football."

See the breakdown of results

And here is how the votes went for the other 19 Premier League clubs

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Luton's Premier League fairy tale might have been short lived but the Hatters fought until the final day of the season.

Ollie Kay, from We Are Luton Town, external, has given his verdict on the 2023-24 campaign.

Season rating: 6/10. We knew it was going to be a long, hard slog. We were written off before a ball had been kicked - however, we finished top of the relegation zone and if we had taken our chances, or held on in games, we could have been above the dotted line. Regardless, the riches of the Premier League have set us up for the next decade.

Happy with your manager? There have been bouts of tactical naivety at times and a lack of pragmatism when three points were all we needed, but Rob Edwards is still in the early stages of his managerial career. Overall, the fanbase is very happy with him, as is the club. We are all excited to see how the team is moulded into exactly what he wants over the summer.

Unsung hero: Carlton Morris. This may seem odd as he ended up as our top goal scorer and captain, but he played a key role in stepping up to fill Tom Lockyer's shoes as captain, which would have been tough on a personal level. On top of that, he played 90 minutes week in, week out as we coped with our decimated squad throughout late winter into spring.

Player you would most like to sign: A good right wing-back would be perfect. We had Issa Kabore on loan this season but injury meant he was never a guaranteed pick. For sentimental reasons, signing Cody Drameh would be fantastic after his efforts to help us to promotion while on loan. And a signing like Sammie Szmodics would be brilliant, especially with Premier League clubs circling over Elijah Adebayo.

Best away fans: Newcastle United. The Geordies did themselves proud and came to Kenilworth Road as the first opponents after Lockyer's collapse at Bournemouth. They sang for Tom, brought a banner and sang for their team - despite a 1-0 defeat - and are a thoroughly brilliant fanbase at home and away.

See how our other fan writers rated their club's season here

Aston Villa are closing in on a deal to re-sign Luton Town and former England midfielder Ross Barkley on a permanent basis, four years after the 30-year-old joined on loan from Chelsea. (Guardian), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from the final 10 games of the Premier League season.

If you missed Sunday's Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer here.

Also, listen back to the two BBC Radio 5 Live match commentaries in full on BBC Sounds:

• Man City 3-1 West Ham

• Chelsea 2-1 Bournemouth