Everton manager Ronald Koeman has issued Ross Barkley with a warning that he will be sold in summer if he does not agree to extend his stay at the club.
Barkley has been heavily linked with a move away from Goodison Park this season after enduring a turbulent campaign in Koeman’s first campaign at the club, with Tottenham among those reportedly interested in his services.
The 23-year-old will only have 12 months remaining on his existing deal in the summer and Koeman was blunt in his assessment of the situation in the wake of their 4-2 win over Leicester on Sunday.
“We offer him a new contract, and then [there are] two possibilities,” Sky Sports quote Koeman as saying after the match.
“One, he signs that contract, if he doesn’t sign that contract then we need to sell the player. It’s simple – it’s not so difficult in my opinion.”
“We try the best players. We spoke a lot about Ross and Rom because they are really important. Most of the time the quality of the players can be the difference between Everton and the opponent, and they played really well.”
After a troubled start to the season in which Barkley sometimes found himself out of the team for big matches, there has been a huge improvement in his performances over the last few months despite being heavily criticised for his role in their recent Merseyside Derby defeat at Anfield.
In fact, only Christian Eriksen and Gylfi Sigurdsson have registered as many assists in the Premier League in 2017 than the Everton No.8 (6).
For more stats on Ross Barkley, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
