The England international continues to toil under Ronald Koeman.
When the former captain of your hated rivals encourages one of your key players to leave in the national media, a volley of acidic abuse can reasonably be expected. Yet, even the most Toffee-nosed Everton supporter would struggle to disagree with Steven Gerrard’s assessment of Ross Barkley’s ongoing struggles under Ronald Koeman.
“I’m a big fan of Ross, but what I will say is he has been inconsistent and the Everton fans use him as an easy target,” Gerrard told BT Sport in quotes reported by the Liverpool Echo. “It’s hard playing for your local team when the fans are pointing fingers.
“He will look up to Ronald Koeman like he’s a hero and he’s killing him in the media, bringing him down and down. The fans and Ronald Koeman are not helping Ross Barkley.”
“If he was to go to a Tottenham or a Chelsea he would fly and all the Everton fans would say why did we sell him? I think from a selfish point of view maybe for him a move would be the best thing for him.”
Such has been the rapid pace of his development, its easy to forget that Barkley is just 23 years of age. Built up to be the new Wayne Rooney, even Paul Gascoigne, almost immediately after showing mere glimpses of his potential, the current campaign represents a huge backwards step in a career that was hitherto going from strength to strength.
Publically slammed by Koeman for his alleged lack of work rate or end product, Barkley’s substandard form has been subject to relentless scrutiny throughout the campaign with a number of Everton supporters even claiming that cashing in is the best option available to the club who reared the Mersey-born midfielder through the academy.
According to The Telegraph, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea are monitoring Barkley’s progress and few would bet against him taking a rather substantial leap forwards when surrounded by the likes of Eden Hazard, Harry Kane or Mesut Ozil.
But could Everton live up to the prospect of letting their most talented player since Rooney slip through their fingers?
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