With Tottenham having problems in central midfield due to a number of injuries, Mauricio Pochettino could be dipping into the transfer market when it opens again. The Daily Mirror claims that our manager is still keen on signing Ross Barkley even though the Englishman has not featured for Everton this season.
This has got to be one of the longest transfer sagas in recent months as the Everton midfielder was linked with a move to Tottenham after refusing a new contract with the Merseysiders. Barkley’s form dipped dramatically last season and he was set to join Chelsea in the summer. However, the Englishman backed out of the medical at the last moment and has not played for the Toffees due to a hamstring injury this season.
The problem that Pochettino faces is regarding the lengthy absence of Moussa Dembele and Victor Wanyama. Dembele’s last match for us was almost a month ago while Wanyama hasn’t played for us since August.
The duo will have to see specialists to fix its problems and even though we have seen the rise of Harry Winks since the start of the season, Pochettino wants to add more options for the midfield and wants to sign Barkley for a cut-price deal in the winter window.
The manager did state that this issue is something that he will be looking into but didn’t want to give away too much details.
“No decision at the moment if we are going to move in January,” he was quoted by the Mirror.
“Talking to (chairman) Daniel Levy and Steve and we are focused on every position on the pitch, to be vigilant and aware of what we need to do.
“At the moment no decision, we are happy and expect Victor and Mousa to recover. We are concerned about his (Wanyama’s) situation, must wait to see what happens when he sees the specialist. we have no clear idea what is going on.
“It’s difficult to explain on Mousa. He had incident in training and complained about pain in hip. He cannot complete intensity of the training.”
While we do need quality players to continue our progress, signing Barkley might be a bit of a risk given his injury record and loss of form.
The Englishman would want to play regular football ahead of the World Cup and that could spur him on to achieve greater things for his new club or Everton. Barkley will be available on free in the coming summer as his contract expires, and the Toffees might look to coup some amount from a sale in the winter window.
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