Ross Barkley a bargain at £15m? Chelsea could enjoy full value of Everton prodigy

Ross Barkley’s contract may have been running down at Everton, but the stats show Chelsea could get an excellent return on their £15m investment, writes Peter Smith…

Once adored and heralded as a future club legend, Ross Barkley leaves Everton with many supporters angry at his refusal to commit to his boyhood team. They have a right to be bitter about the fee they’ve received from Chelsea, too.

Everton had agreed to sell Barkley to the Londoners for £35m in the summer before the move fell through. Six months on, and with Barkley sidelined during that entire time with a hamstring injury, Chelsea have got their man for just £15m (plus add-ons).
With Barkley refusing to extend his terms at Goodison Park and out of contract and available on a free next summer, Everton needed to get something for their ‘diamond’. But given the inflated sums in the current transfer market and Barkley’s potential, this seems like a bargain of a deal for Chelsea.

Remember, £15m is the amount Stoke paid for Saido Berahino last January, when he was in the same situation, with just six months left on his West Brom contract. This summer, Liverpool spent £34m on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as he entered the final season of his deal at Arsenal.

Barkley, described by former boss Roberto Martinez as „the best English talent I have seen“, capped 22 times by his country and now eligible to play in all four competitions for Chelsea, is immediately worth substantially more than what the Blues paid for him.

In a world where elite full-backs cost £50m, how much would Barkley command if he found full fitness and top form over the second half of this season?
At the age of 24, Barkley’s best years are ahead of him. There’s time to develop. However, there is a feeling he is yet to match the expectation levels which were thrust upon him as his reputation grew with his rise through the youth ranks.

But while another of his former Everton bosses, Ronald Koeman, criticised him for not being clinical or creative enough, the numbers show Barkley is a player who will prove more than useful to Chelsea boss Antonio Conte right away.
Over the course of the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons, Dele Alli was the only English midfielder to register more goals and assists combined – and he plays in a far more advanced role.

Mesut Ozil, Christian Eriksen and Kevin De Bruyne were the only players to match Barkley in posting at least eight assists in both of those campaigns.

Last season was the most creative of Barkley’s career, with his total of 56 chances created from open play ranking him among the top 10 in the Premier League. His average of 2.6 chances per 90 minutes was the same rate recorded by Chelsea’s star man, Eden Hazard.
While 21 goals from 150 Premier League appearances may seem a modest return, he has outscored new team-mate Cesc Fabregas over the past two completed campaigns and his expected goals total of 6.0 last season – compared with his actual return of five goals – ranked him behind only Alli and West Ham’s Michail Antonio among English midfielders.
„For sure he is a good prospect for Chelsea,“ said Conte, ahead of the official announcement. With Blues trio Willian (aged 29), Fabregas and Pedro (both 30) moving towards the latter stages of their careers, Barkley could well be the future of Chelsea’s midfield creativity.

Tom Davies, Mason Holgate, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jonjoe Kenny have all signed long-term deals, meaning the Goodison Park faithful have plenty of other home-grown players to be excited about.

But it is likely to be Chelsea who feel the full value of one of Everton’s most talented academy graduates.
Euro Soccer Bonus

Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.

This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.

The maximum bonus that you can receive is €100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.

If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:

Bet Type Bonus

14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus €100,000 or currency equivalent. Euro Soccer Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.

If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.

If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.

Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.

In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.

All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.

bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.