Everton trying to spark Spurs, Chelsea, Man Utd bidding war over injured Ross Barkley — report

Possibly excellent football player Ross Barkley is embroiled in a bit of an ugly contract situation at Everton. Having seen fellow possibly amazing football player Romelu Lukaku get his exorbitant move to and salary at Manchester United, Barkley now wants a piece of that action as well. He’s refusing to sign a new contract, and with just a year left on his current deal, he’s agitating for a move, knowing that unless Everton are willing to let him walk for free next summer (by which time he will be 24 and thus not subject to a transfer tribunal), they have to sell him.

Spurs are seemingly in the lead for his signature, though with the Toffees holding out for £50m and Barkley himself holding out to be Spurs’ highest paid player at £150k per week, that move is not exactly moving along too quickly. It should be noted at this point that Spurs have yet to make a major signing this summer.

In any case, Everton (or Barkley’s agent) are probably looking to create a bit of extra action around the 23-year-old, so here comes a report in the Times, about Chelsea and Manchester United possibly bidding for Barkley as well.

Over the years at Everton, Barkley has played mostly as an attacking midfielder, though he is also able to play as a central midfielder and well as a right winger. His versatility coupled with his status as a homegrown player could serve Chelsea and many other top Premier League clubs quite well for the next several years, but getting embroiled in a bidding war given his and his current team’s demands would serve the bottom line quite a bit less well. Not to mention, after a ton of initial promise, the jury’s still out on Barkley whether he’s really as good of a player as we’re led to believe ... and that was before he was confirmed to be undergoing groin surgery, ruling him out for the rest of the summer.

Chelsea could probably use another midfield option, but the money that would be required to get Barkley at this point could be much better spent on more pressing matters, such as a new wingback.