Instead the loser will be Ross Barkley who could end up like Saido Berahino if Everton and Tottenham cannot come to terms.
If Ross Barkley is not nervous about his future right now then he should be.
There is less than a month before the Premier League season begins, and then the countdown to transfer deadline day will really be on.
Everton and Tottenham Hotspur are at odds over Barkley’s future, with the Toffees demanding a staggeringly high fee for a player with one year remaining on his contract.
Tottenham will not pay anywhere near the £50 million Everton want, and a compromise will have to be struck, but Barkley should not take it for granted that it will be.
A similar situation occurred two years ago with Saido Berahino as West Bromwich Albion pushed to try and get £30 million.
As the transfer window wore on, Tottenham made offers, but they were considered derisory by the Baggies.
Spurs did not meet West Brom’s demands, and Berahino ended up stuck at West Brom.
Saido Berahino
He took the fallout of the saga badly, and he has struggled to get his career back on track. He was sold to Stoke City in January for a fraction of the price West Brom wanted to pay for him, and has everything to prove.
Barkley like Berahino is just a commodity as far as the two clubs are concerned. He has rejected Everton’s contract offer and they are moving on without him.
If no transfer goes through then he faces being stuck with the under-23s or making a grovelling apology to manager Ronald Koeman.
Everton’s Ross Barkley
In a World Cup year the scenario is potentially disastrous for Barkley.
For Everton and Tottenham, both can get by without him. Spurs have Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen and do not need to pay over the odds to bring him in.
Everton have made moves for Davy Klaassen and Wayne Rooney and Barkley could struggle to make their first XI even if fully committed.
Tottenham proved with Berahino they won’t cave in, and their uncharacteristic transfer mistake with Moussa Sissoko last summer makes them even more likely to be cautious with their money.
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