On 1/5/2018 at 21:34, Slojo said:

I think we're signing him for his nationality more than anything else, I would be surprised if he plays a lot of games.

Not big on this signing but I hope he does prove me wrong. 

Agreed, and to get him for the price we did, could be an absolute steal.  If he plays back into form and improves himself under Conte, we may have just picked up a full England international for pocket change in the current transfer market.

Despite Barkley's injuries and lack of progress over the last season or two, his potential is undoubted and I think for £15m it's worth a punt. Given that he would have cost us £35m in the Summer this is an excellent deal, financially speaking at least. The pressure is on though; he's 24 I believe and therefore not exactly 'young' in footballing terms any more, he'll need to hit the ground running. 

I would have thought Conte will play him in Bakayoko's or Fabregas' role in the 3-5-2 system, depending on how far forward he wants Barkley. I'm not sure he has the defensive discipline to play a DM role so it would seem logical that he'd be the alternative to Fabregas, providing a key link between midfield and attack. I suppose he could play wide in the front 3 of a 3-4-3 but I don't think his attributes fit those roles particularly well. 

Really not sure how this gamble will go. He adds good depth to the squad at the very least, but at this point I don't see how he improves the first team.

Lastly, I fear that he might end up blocking RLC's path into the first team squad. I know RLC hasn't really shone at Palace despite a good start, but I am a fan of his abilities and I don't think he's inferior to Barkley at all. Maybe this could give RLC the kick he needs to get him performing more effectively, but at the moment it looks like we might have too many players in midfield positions heading into next season. 

Liverpool mayor have gotten the police involved now. Jeez, he must have a chip on his shoulder or something. 

 

video analysis above is very interesting. 

The Mayor of Liverpool's letter to the F.A about this transfer.....try not to laugh.

Quote

Dear Sirs,

Ross Barkley transfer

I write to you as a lifelong supporter of Everton Football Club - and as someone with a broader interest in the future of the game. The matter at hand is the recent transfer of Ross Barkley from Everton FC to Chelsea FC.

It was widely reported and confirmed by Mr Farhad Moshiri, a Director of EFC - in an interview on August 31 with Sky Sports News - that a deal had been reached with Chelsea for a fee of £35 million.

The fee was believed by many, including myself, to be a good deal and was based on him having just a year left of his contract.

However with less than an hour remaining on deadline day it was revealed that the deal had been rejected by Ross Barkley. At the time, it was stated by his agent that Ross had a hamstring injury and had decided to regain his fitness and then consider his options in January.

Since then, Ross Barkley has not played a single minute for Everton. The stated reason is that he has a groin strain. As I mentioned Mr Barkley had one year left on his contract with Everton and his saleable value at the time clearly was based on him having only this period left.

The January window opened and within hours Chelsea had tabled an offer to Everton of £15 million - some £20 million less than offered just four months earlier - a decrease in value of more than one million pounds a week. At best, this represents a very poor deal for Everton Football Club. At worst, it could be seen as a deliberate attempt to drive down a player’s value in the transfer market so as to benefit the player, his agent and the buying club.

As you well know, there is much speculation about the role of agents in transactions such as this and the impact it has on the modern game, including their role in the transfer of players.

I believe that the player has a contract and it should be honoured by both parties but clearly, the value of a player decreases as the contract runs down. It must surely concern you that the value of this player decreased so sharply, losing the selling club over £1 million per week, (plus the costs of the continuation of the player’s wages).

Had he left at the end of the season, it is clear he could then have departed on a free transfer and I accept that would and could have happened, costing Everton more. However, I believe that the circumstance of his transfer now warrants serious investigation.

There seems to me to be at least a public perception that collusion has taken place. While that may not be the case it is in your interest that this is at least looked at to reassure fans that transfers will be monitored more closely in future and that no individuals are benefiting inappropriately.

Football fans are often treated as the forgotten minority and the premier league would not be the fantastic product it is without them. Those committed fans pay exceptional ticket prices to watch their team play which I believe gives them a stake in this whole process and they deserve the right to a degree of transparency.

I am so concerned about the circumstances surrounding this transfer that I am asking the appropriate police authorities to consider whether any fraud has taken place.

As a politician - and someone who supports and rightly welcomes scrutiny under the Nolan Principles - I feel it is right that the public receive an assurance on this matter - and that transfers are monitored more closely. I hope we can count on the sport’s governing bodies to provide those assurances.

Yours faithfully,

Joe Anderson

Mayor of Liverpool

If the F.A take this seriously then they are an even bigger joke than i realised.

The Mayor of Liverpool's letter to the F.A about this transfer.....try not to laugh.

Dear Sirs,

Ross Barkley transfer

I write to you as a lifelong supporter of Everton Football Club - and as someone with a broader interest in the future of the game. The matter at hand is the recent transfer of Ross Barkley from Everton FC to Chelsea FC.

It was widely reported and confirmed by Mr Farhad Moshiri, a Director of EFC - in an interview on August 31 with Sky Sports News - that a deal had been reached with Chelsea for a fee of £35 million.

The fee was believed by many, including myself, to be a good deal and was based on him having just a year left of his contract.

However with less than an hour remaining on deadline day it was revealed that the deal had been rejected by Ross Barkley. At the time, it was stated by his agent that Ross had a hamstring injury and had decided to regain his fitness and then consider his options in January.

Since then, Ross Barkley has not played a single minute for Everton. The stated reason is that he has a groin strain. As I mentioned Mr Barkley had one year left on his contract with Everton and his saleable value at the time clearly was based on him having only this period left.

The January window opened and within hours Chelsea had tabled an offer to Everton of £15 million - some £20 million less than offered just four months earlier - a decrease in value of more than one million pounds a week. At best, this represents a very poor deal for Everton Football Club. At worst, it could be seen as a deliberate attempt to drive down a player’s value in the transfer market so as to benefit the player, his agent and the buying club.

As you well know, there is much speculation about the role of agents in transactions such as this and the impact it has on the modern game, including their role in the transfer of players.

I believe that the player has a contract and it should be honoured by both parties but clearly, the value of a player decreases as the contract runs down. It must surely concern you that the value of this player decreased so sharply, losing the selling club over £1 million per week, (plus the costs of the continuation of the player’s wages).

Had he left at the end of the season, it is clear he could then have departed on a free transfer and I accept that would and could have happened, costing Everton more. However, I believe that the circumstance of his transfer now warrants serious investigation.

There seems to me to be at least a public perception that collusion has taken place. While that may not be the case it is in your interest that this is at least looked at to reassure fans that transfers will be monitored more closely in future and that no individuals are benefiting inappropriately.

Football fans are often treated as the forgotten minority and the premier league would not be the fantastic product it is without them. Those committed fans pay exceptional ticket prices to watch their team play which I believe gives them a stake in this whole process and they deserve the right to a degree of transparency.

I am so concerned about the circumstances surrounding this transfer that I am asking the appropriate police authorities to consider whether any fraud has taken place.

As a politician - and someone who supports and rightly welcomes scrutiny under the Nolan Principles - I feel it is right that the public receive an assurance on this matter - and that transfers are monitored more closely. I hope we can count on the sport’s governing bodies to provide those assurances.

Yours faithfully,

Joe Anderson

Mayor of Liverpool

 

Fair play to the geezer he’s actually made such a joke of a letter sound half convincing... can definitely tell he’s a politician lol

Ah, that good old scouse sense of humour....

I presume he`s not being serious, surely no one can be that monumentally stupid.

2 minutes ago, dkw said:

I presume he`s not being serious, surely no one can be that monumentally stupid.

Thanks, Dicky, I'll save that as a cut and paste for future use :)  I think I'll be using it a lot.

Says the fee was £20m less than agreed in the summer. 

Acknowledges that Barkley has not played any football since the start of the season.

Acknowledges that Barkley could (and probably would have) left at the end of the season for nothing. 

Thinks there is an issue with getting money for with only 6 months on their contract?

 

He's making counter arguments without even realising it, all the while failing to acknowledge, if Everton didn't think £15m was enough for Barkley, why did the agree to the fee? 

Man has gone and embarrassed himself and the fact he has used his position of power to meddle in the affairs of something that is frankly nothing to do with him is shambolic. 

It may raise his profile such that there is an investigations into him, of course being an honest scouse politician he will have nothing to hide and will come out of the matter as the white knight of the realm he is... probably 

 

 

Edited January 10, 20188 yr by One Tommy Langley

is Barkley in the squad for tonight? 

9 minutes ago, big blue said:

is Barkley in the squad for tonight? 

Doubt it just coming back from a long term injury, just got back into training and Conte is wanting him to 'adapt to our way of playing'.

Conte has hinted he'll be available for Norwich.  Great timing if true

dude seems ready to me

 

Great for the deep of the squad that he is already ready for play against Norwich. That also will allow to Fabregas to rise his level because now he is a good competition at his role. 

The Liverpool mayor haha, the same bunch of scouse political morons who are spending tax money on Everton for the sake of "tourism"

No wonder the bloke is angry that we nabbed one of their players. 

I hope he's fit and ready and Antonio is willing to integrate him to this team. He could replace Baka perfectly IMO. Physically strong, can offer us some defense and he is absolutely capable of delivering  in offense, something Baka isn't because he's just bad. So I hope we'll start seeing him at least on the bench very soon. 

Edited January 13, 20188 yr by Pendergast

On 13/01/2018 at 13:34, Pendergast said:

I hope he's fit and ready and Antonio is willing to integrate him to this team. He could replace Baka perfectly IMO. Physically strong, can offer us some defense and he is absolutely capable of delivering  in offense, something Baka isn't because he's just bad. So I hope we'll start seeing him at least on the bench very soon. 

Regardless of what you think of him we HAVE bought him. Glad we took the gamble of not signing him before the season.

(1) He was never going to play again in 2017.

(2) We saved £20m

(3) We saved on his wages. Scousers paid for him to do sweet FA.

At least a scouser has been robbed for once. Shocked Liverpool have not claimed to be the victims.....

On ‎13‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 10:46, Cyborg7 said:

Great for the deep of the squad that he is already ready for play against Norwich. That also will allow to Fabregas to rise his level because now he is a good competition at his role. 

I was rather hoping he would be playing instead of Fab.

2 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I was rather hoping he would be playing instead of Fab.

Fabregas at his best level, he is very impressive mostly with his assists... BUT only when he wants, this sluggish

The latest on the status of Barkley's availability 

 

Panic over, we’re in the clear! 

On 13/01/2018 at 05:33, robdog said:

dude seems ready to me

 

Incredible how he can hit a ball like that time after time.

26 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Panic over, we’re in the clear! 

Still wasted police resources investigating. I hope the police were just tapping randomly on a keyboard "Oh yes Mr. Mayor we are dedicating all our time on this don't worry sir"