The Everton star is yet to feature for England at Euro 2016.
Writing in the Mirror, former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler has told England to use Ross Barkley as their Plan B against Iceland.
England take on Iceland in the last 16 of Euro 2016 on Monday after securing their progression from Group B.
Their opponents have been one of the surprise packages of the tournament so far as they sealed an impressive second-place finish in Group F ahead of Portugal.
They are expected to sit deep and frustrate the Three Lions, a strategy that was successful for Slovakia when the two sides drew 0-0 recently.
And should that prove to be the case, Fowler has urged England to use Ross Barkley as their Plan B to break down the defence.
“I’d use Ross Barkley, who, despite the rewriting of recent history, had a great season at Everton, scored his highest number of goals and stepped up a level,” he told the Mirror.
“If defenders are backing off and crowding the box, he can drive at them, drop the shoulder and shoot, or he can produce that touch of magic to pick a pass or skip through.”
It is surprising that England have not bothered to use Barkley up to this point in the tournament.
Their midfield was sorely lacking a creative spark in the group stages as their strikers struggled at times against resilient defences.
Barkley could be the answer to that, offering significantly more offensively than the likes of Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson can bring to the side when England are chasing a game.
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