Everton manager Ronald Koeman should stick to his guns and maximise the potential fee for want-away midfielder Ross Barkley.
With England international Barkley’s contract due to expire in 12 months, this could leave Everton in a position of weakness as the highly-rated attacking midfielder could potentially leave for nothing next year.
However, Koeman should not feel threatened and instead hold firm in his seemingly-high valuation of the 23-year-old, which according to The Telegraph is an estimated £50m.
He should find solace in the current transfer market, a market where players of arguably similar standing like Gylfi Sigurdsson and Riyad Mahrez are commanding asking prices in the region of £40-50m too as quoted by BBC Sport and The Daily Star respectively.
After his breakout season in 2013/14, there was a large amount of hype surrounding Barkley and how influential he could be for Everton, in the Premier League and possibly beyond.
Despite this, there is a lingering feeling feeling that in his 179 appearances for the Merseyside club a level of consistent quality was never reached and hence the potential is still untapped.
While interest is still rife and a high fee can be demanded, perhaps moving Barkley on and investing in players who are committed to Koeman’s long-term project for the club would be a sensible move.
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