Ronald Koeman has shown no signs of slowing down in the January transfer window, which could lead to Ross Barkley leaving the blue half of Merseyside in summer.
According to the Mirror, the Dutchman is already reshuffling his attacking cards after securing the signature of Morgan Schneiderlin from Manchester United for £22 million and closing on Standard Liege attacker Ishak Belfodil. The former is a more familiar name, who worked with Koeman before at Southampton while the latter has already bagged 6 goals out of 14 appearances for the Belgian side this term.
This follows after the £11 million capture of Charlton forward Ademola Lookman as soon as the window opened.
Things have not been all rosy between Barkley and Koeman. The manager has condemned the 23-year-old in public as he believes the hometown favourite should be contributing more in the final third. Moreover, earlier this season, the England international was left out of the Everton side a number of times. With 3 goals and a single assist to his name so far, even the fans are hardly differing from their manager’s decision.
Despite Koeman struggling to unlock Barkley’s potential, a host of clubs have understandably been bandied with the attacking midfielder. In the previous seasons, he looked like a world beater and could turn things around with his individual brilliance. On the other hand, he has identified a kindred spirit in Romelu Lukaku, as the duo links out brilliantly well to find the back of the net.
There is no denying that Mauricio Pochettino is a big fan of Ross Barkley and knows that playing him behind Harry Kane would be a sleeper hit. However, the north London club are on a cracking run of form and there seems to be no necessity for them to dip into the winter window to help fortify their title challenge. Adding Barkley into Spurs’ pool of English talent is commendable but it also turns debatable as Dele Alli, Heung-Min Son and Christian Eriksen are on the same wavelength. Will the Lilywhites loosen the purse strings for an individual who isn’t tailor-made to break into the first team?
Barkley has 18 months remaining on his contract and chances to see him put pen to paper for an extension is pretty slim. He came through the ranks at Everton and has scored many crucial goals in the past, thus the fans will be a little heavy-hearted to see him trade to another club’s jersey. They will be hoping that their new additions will help to compensate the absence of Barkley in the future or even better, the midfielder finds his rhythm once again.
Everton next welcome Manchester City to Goodison Park while Spurs look to extend their winning streak against West Brom at home.
