Should Manchester United Make A Move For Ross Barkley?
According to reports from the Mirror, Manchester United are closely monitoring the situation of Ross Barkley at Everton as they are pondering over making a late move for the Englishman.
The 23-year old is sure to be sold in the summer by the Merseysiders, after he refused to sign a new contract with the club last season. With just a little under a year’s time left on his deal with the Toffees, it was expected that there would be a lot of interest in the midfielder, but as things stand, it is Tottenham Hotspur only who have maintained an interest, with United also keeping an eye on the situation.
This is largely down to the fact that Everton are demanding a whopping £50million fee for Barkley. That amount of money, for a player in his final year of contract and is highly inconsistent, and is outrageous, to say the least. However, United manager Jose Mourinho is prepared to play the waiting game and wait for the asking price to come down, until he makes a move for Barkley.
But should United be targeting the Englishman? Will he be able to add what United already possess in their ranks?
The answer would be no.
Having broken into the team as a 17-year old back in 2011, Barkley has shown great promise ever since, but has struggled to fulfil that potential at the highest level. Every now and there are glimpses of his brilliance, some magical moments and they are soon followed by some erratic displays, that makes a fan cringe. Every chance he creates, he tends to spurn more – something that United’s new man Romelu Lukaku will attest to.
Last season, he managed a return of 6 goals and 9 assists from 39 games in all competitions, that is someway off from what he had achieved in the 2015/16 campaign under Roberto Martinez. The England international scored just a single goal in the final 14 league outings.
The fact that he wasn’t completely backed by his manager Ronald Koeman may have played a hand in his average performances, but if a player doesn’t have that mental toughness to bounce back, then he is bound to struggle – especially at a huge club like Manchester United, when the spotlight is always on you.
Jose Mourinho is a whole new story. He is a man who doesn’t mince his words, if he doesn’t like what you do on the pitch, he’s going to let the whole world know that – ask Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling. And as seen last season, Barkley doesn’t react very well to such public criticisms.
Also, there is the question of where is he going to fit in at Old Trafford? While he can play out wide and behind the striker as well, United already have plenty of options in those positions.
There’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard – who has been highly impressive in the pre-season tour and obviously Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, who could find themselves pushed out on the flanks once again, following Lukaku’s arrival. Andreas Pereira too seems to be making all the right noises to stake a claim in the first-team next season.
Despite all his potential, it is unlikely that Barkley could break into the first-team and even if he does, his inconsistent ways will only land him back on the bench. At this point of time, Barkley is not something that United need. He is a luxury that United can do without.
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