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Looking to assemble as strong of a squad as possible ahead of the new Championship campaign, Nathan Jones will be eyeing an even higher finish than last year's sixth-place.
Defying expectations to grab a play-off spot in what was Luton's third season back in the Championship, naturally expectation levels will rise when the new campaign comes around, especially when considering the early business that the club have conducted.
Arriving at Kenilworth Road yesterday, Louie Watson joined the Bedfordshire outfit as Jones' fourth signing of the summer.
Here, data from Wyscout is used to assess what kind of player Luton fans can expect from the 21-year-old...
It is firstly important to consider that Watson only accumulated 234 minutes of Championship action last season, meaning that it is not the largest sample size to draw conclusions from.
However, from the data that is available from the 21/22 second tier campaign, Watson's passing statistics really stand out. Someone who is productive yet careful in possession, the young midfielder scores particularly highly with the accuracy of his passes and the accuracy of his progressive passes. Sometimes this comes as a result of a player ranking low when it comes to the number of passes and progressive passes per 90, but in this case, these are another two figures that Watson returns impressive numbers.
The above data shows that Watson is progressive in his passing but not necessarily when carrying the ball forward, returning a low figure for his progressive runs per 90. That being said, he is above the median line with his dribbles per 90.
Defensively speaking, all four figures are lower than the median mark, with his defensive duels per 90 and the percentage of defensive duels that he won standing particularly low.
The graph above does appear to show a clear difference between the more attacking midfielders and the more defensive minded. Watson is someone that does rank highly with his progressive runs per 90, in relation to Luton's current midfield options, whilst his dribbles per 90 stand above average.
It remains to be seen if Watson is deemed as a number 10/attacking midfield option at this stage, however, this first graph would justify that somewhat.
As mentioned when taking into account the rest of the Championship, Watson's progressive passes per 90, and the accuracy of those passes stands out when just focussing on Luton's options from the 2022/23 campaign.
Interestingly, Danny Hylton and Admiral Muskwe, who featured as the top two performers in the previous graph, are now the two that do not rank very well here. Averaging over nine progressive passes per 90 and an accuracy percentage of over 85%, this acts as another indication that a number 10 role could be the appropriate position.
Once again, this makes perfect sense, with the more combative and defensive minded midfielders ranking highly and the more creative options below the average marks.
The fact that Watson is below the average lines for both successful defensive actions per 90 and defensive duels per 90, could be interpreted that he is better deployed in a more advanced position with fewer defensive responsibilities.