When Chelsea missed out on the signing of Ross Barkley on deadline day last summer, it felt as though the ship had sailed on the Blues landing the attacker. Tottenham were heavily linked with a move for the Everton ace and Chelsea’s loss looked to be Spurs’ gain. The Toffees’ asking price, believed to be £50m, effectively drew out his departure and after the deal broke down last summer, it was expected he would leave this month.
With the January transfer window still in its infancy, Chelsea are pushing that deal over the line sooner rather than later, with Antonio Conte landing his man for just £15m. While the 24-year-old is free to leave for nothing in the summer, his imminent capture for that price represents a bargain in the current market. Barkley may not have featured for club nor country this season owing to a hamstring injury and subsequent surgery to rectify the issue, yet now back in training and closing in on a return to fitness, passing a medical should be a mere formality.
The move is an important one for Barkley. His career development has stunted since he broke onto the scene and after enjoying one of his most prolific campaigns to date, returning five goals and eight assists, now is the time to take his football to the next level. In a turbulent environment like Everton, who signed three recognised number 10s in Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen over the summer, Barkley’s game time was always going to take a hit, even before his injury.
Importantly, he offers Conte a further midfield option to utilise, either in a deeper role or behind the striker. The Italian has utilised a 3-5-1-1 formation on a number of occasions this season and while he is able to call upon Cesc Fabregas, N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater and Tiemoue Bakyoko as the central midfield three, the latter’s well-documented struggles in England will ease the pressure on the Frenchman to quickly turn his fortunes around and allow him the opportunity to get back up to speed after a series of niggling injuries impacted his early form.
Even in a 3-4-2-1 setup, there is a place for Barkley in the XI behind the frontman and with Willian linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge and Pedro now 30, Barkley offers Conte greater flexibility in both shape and personnel. What’s more, Barkley’s move to Chelsea will allow him to work with a manager whose tactical acumen should help the player develop further.
There is no denying that Barkley is a supremely talented individual and he undoubtedly boasts the technical quality to ply his trade for one of England’s top teams. However, even with plenty of playing time under his belt, there is work to be done to help improve the Englishman, particularly when his side does not have the ball. Conte helped improve David Luiz further when he returned to Chelsea 18 months ago and he boasts the requisite tools to do so with Barkley.
Having not played in the Champions League either, Conte is allowed to register Barkley for the squad list for the last-16 next month, which further increases his midfield and attacking options for the latter stages of the competition. Chelsea named 21 players, not including the four ‘B-list’ youngsters, in their squad for the group stages of the Champions League and Barkley’s availability will ease concerns over any potential burnout should they progress past Barcelona.
Barkley is a player ripe for moulding under Conte and while he’ll likely have to wait for his chance to shine given the Chelsea manager’s midfield options and his hamstring issue, the Blues have landed themselves a bargain in the modern market. Conte now needs to coax out any untapped potential in the player and improve his defensive and positional discipline in order for the move to be a success of both Barkley and Chelsea, but he’s very much a diamond waiting to shine – the Italian has the tools to make him glisten in west London.
