Both Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley have been linked with leaving Everton in the near future.
Everton’s Romelu Lukaku
Ian Wright has told The Sun that Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley would probably be making a mistake if they decided to leave Everton this summer, and should stay at Goodison Park for at least one more year.
Both Lukaku and Barkley have been linked with leaving Goodison Park in the near future, The Sun reports, and it appears that neither would be short of offers if the Toffees gave their respective departures the green light at the end of the season.
Chelsea are reportedly keen on re-signing Lukaku (via Mirror) while Tottenham have been heavily linked with a move for Barkley (via Mirror).
But despite both men seemingly being about to be offered the chance to move to one of the Premier League’s top two, Wright suggested that staying at Everton for a while longer could be the best decision for either in the long-term.
“Both are playing great football — they have for a couple of months, to be fair,” he told The Sun.
Everton’s Ross Barkley
“But they have also had plenty of stick for inconsistency in the past, too.
“Well, if they think the pressure on them to deliver at Everton is high, it’s nothing to what they’d be under if they did move on.
“The pair would cost huge money and with that comes the demand to deliver from the off.”
Everton manager Ronald Koeman
While both men have been fantastic over the course of the season – Lukaku has scored 23 league goals while Barkley has contributed eight assists in the top flight – the recent Merseyside derby perhaps highlights how Wright’s theory may be fairly accurate.
Of course, both players are too good already not to impress if they went to one of the sides challenging for the title, but the game against Liverpool saw Lukaku go missing and Barkley dive in to a number of wild challenges.
And that perhaps suggests that they may not be quite ready to appear on the biggest stages on a regular basis just yet.
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