Barkley won’t go cheaply
EVERTON manager Ronald Koeman insists Tottenham can forget a last-minute raid to sign Ross Barkley at a bargain price, despite the fact he believes his club will land Gylfi Sigurdsson before the transfer window closes.
The Dutchman admits he expected Barkley, who has refused to sign a new deal with one year remaining on his Everton contract, to have been sold by now.
But having seen Victor Wanyama leave his former club Southampton for a loss in similar circumstances last summer, Koeman is adamant Spurs and their chairman Daniel Levy can forget any hopes of panicking Everton into selling at a cut-price valuation.
“No, of course not,” said Koeman when asked if Everton would allow Barkley to leave cheaply.
“If there is a club thinking, ‘We can wait until the last day and we put some money on the table and we get Ross Barkley’, sorry, you do not get Ross Barkley.
“I do not know if Spurs are doing that. I am not sure.
“I have some experience. When I was at Southampton we lost some players, but I am mentioning the name of no club.”
Last month Koeman stated Barkley would “100 per cent” leave Goodison this summer although yesterday the manager’s stance had softened and, should an acceptable offer not be forthcoming, he is now prepared to consider the England international for selection.
“I believe he will make the move,” said Koeman. “If not, he is a player of Everton and if he shows to me he is one of the best then it is possible he can start, like everyone.
“Ross is back in training. That is good news for him and good news for us, but I don’t have any update.
“There is no offer on the table for Ross. That means he will stay at Everton. What happens in the coming weeks, I don’t know.
“He is a really good player, a young player, an English player. With all the valuations we have seen the last few weeks about players, then if you want to buy Ross, it is a big deal.
“I expected us to have offers on the table for Ross because he made the decision not to sign. At the moment, there is no interest.”
Barkley would have a major challenge to force his way into first-team contention, especially with his manager insisting a move for Swansea’s Sigurdsson is still “close”.
Koeman dismissed suggestions the deal had collapsed after Everton offered £10million less than Swansea’s £50m valuation, and Swansea’s decision yesterday to pull the Iceland international out of contention for tomorrow’s trip to Southampton seemed to support Koeman’s hope.
“It’s still close,” said Koeman. “That has not changed. I heard some rumours that the talks broke down but we are still in negotiations with Swansea.” JURGEN KLOPP has told Barcelona that Liverpool will not sell Philippe Coutinho at any price.
Barca failed with a second bid of £90million for Coutinho on Wednesday.
Klopp said: “There is no price limit to let him go or a price that we are ready to give in. Our goal is to have the best possible team. So