Premier League champions Manchester City are interested in taking Everton’s Ross Barkley to the City of Manchester Stadium.
Manchester City are lining up an audacious £25 million bid for England international and talented young playmaker Ross Barkley from Everton, according to reports from the Mirror.
Barkley was one of the breakthrough stars of the 2013/14 Premier League season, blossoming after being given the opportunity by new manager Roberto Martinez, who also helped to build an attacking, enterprising style around Barkley.
The youngster would be well aware of looking at the case of Jack Rodwell, however, the promising midfielder who moved from Everton to City but wasn’t given the chances in the first team and is now being talked of as potential bait in a part-exchange deal for Barkley.
Barkley seems to be a step up from Rodwell in terms of natural talent, however, so may have a fighting chance of making it at City – although there remains a suspicion that their motive is largely based around the fulfilling of home-grown player quotas for the Champions League.
He would have to compete with the likes of David Silva and Samir Nasri for a place in the attacking midfield line-up at the City of Manchester Stadium – but is not likely to lack self-belief based on his performances at Goodison Park last season.
So exciting was his emergence that Roy Hodgson took Barkley to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a big stage on which the youngster certainly didn’t disgrace himself.