Barkley leaving would anger more than when Rooney left

Evertonians are becoming increasingly frustrated with the Ross Barkley “Is he leaving, isn’t he leaving” bandwagon and opinion about the player and his so called love of Everton are divided.

Ross has always said he is a blue and commented on his despair when Wayne Rooney left the club 13 years ago when he signed a new contract in 2014.

“I knew what it meant to me when Rooney left because he was one of the better players at the time,” said Barkley.

“We thought Everton could’ve pushed on at the time but when he left we were all down.

“I know how the fans felt and I just wanted to sign and push on for Everton.”

At the time, Wayne Rooney was one of the poster boys of English football.  He was an Everton supporter, who had broken onto the scene at 16 years of age to become a world name with the potential to be the best.

Everton had accepted an offer from Newcastle United before Manchester United came to the table to offer a deal worth around £30m.  Evertonians were distraught that one of their most promising players was being sold and the blame seemed to lay firmly with 18 year old Wayne Rooney and his agent Paul Stretford.  Documents later revealed that the club would likely have faced massive financial problems if the Rooney deal hadn’t gone through.

Fast forward 13 years and Barkley finds himself in a similar situation.  He is one of the poster boys of English football.  He is an Evertonian midfielder who has all the talent in the world, although he probably hasn’t live up to his potential yet.  The difference between the Rooney situation and the Barkley situation couldn’t be more different in a way though.

In 2017, Everton have money.  As a club we don’t need to sell our best players.  We are bringing in some quality players and don’t have to appease the banks.  We are building a new stadium, we have a top of the range training facility and we are offering top wages.  Everything that Barkley could need in a club is here.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman had offered ultimatums to Barkley that if he didn’t sign a new contract before the end of the season, then he would be sold.  He didn’t, but he is still at the club.  He didn’t go on the pre-season tour to Tanzania due to what the club said was a “groin injury” and he has also missed the current trip to Holland.  The silence tells it’s own tale, but at the same time it is also frustrating Evertonians – Some who want the player to sign and others who want him gone.

Overnight newspaper stories have come out saying that Ross Barkley is demanding that Tottenham Hotspur pay him a wage of £150k per week, which would make him their top earner if he was a move there.  Higher than double Premier League top scorer Harry Kane and also higher than Dele Alli, who has impressive stats in his first couple of seasons in the top flight.

No one knows if these newspaper stories are true and if Ross is being greedy.  But one thing is for sure.  If Ross Barkley was to leave the club after running his contract down and then refusing to sign a new one, leaving the club out of pocket then it is certainly worse than anything that Wayne Rooney ever did.

For me, Barkley has all the attributes to become one of the best in his position.  He is tall, he is strong, he has skills to pay the bills, he is quick and he can pick a pass.  Everton should all they can do to keep the player, but the player should also come out and say how much he would love to stay.

If he leaves it will certainly leave a bad taste in the mouth, especially when the club is finally on the up after years in the wilderness.

Do you agree with Blue Roy?  Do you want Barkley to Stay?

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