BARKLEY’S

After the incredible U-turn on his Chelsea move, Ross faces months in the wilderness back at Everton

FROM being England’s future to an Everton outcast – Ross Barkley has fallen a long way in a short time.

If Barkley’s career had continued on its upwards trajectory, Gareth Southgate would be building his England team around him in preparation for the World Cup.

Instead, Barkley’s latest wrong turn will leave him in the wilderness at Goodison Park when he eventually returns from his hamstring injury later this autumn.

Boss Ronald Koeman (above) will carry out his threat to shun the playmaker because of his refusal to sign a new deal before the end of last season.

Chelsea offered Barkley an escape route from his Merseyside misery, but he incredibly snubbed a £35million move to Stamford Bridge at the 11th hour, just before the transfer window closed.

Barkley apparently wants to reconsider his options in January when he will have just six months left on his Everton contract. Until then, the 23-year-old Scouser feted by fans as a homegrown hero must twiddle his thumbs on the sidelines.

Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri summed up Barkley’s bleak future when he claimed he would struggle to get a look-in following the club’s record spend in the close season. Summer signings Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen (both below) are all ahead of him in the fight to fill the No.10 role.

“That’s the difficulty,” said Moshiri. “The No.10 position is very congested as we have Sigurdsson, Klaassen and Rooney.

“It’s not easy to break into that now, but Barkley is a good player, he is a world-class player. But he needs to play.” Moshiri also challenged Koeman to lead Everton to a top-six finish, despite failing to land the striker and left-sided defender the Dutchman was crying out for this week.

He feels Everton have backed Koeman by splashing out £145m on the players he wanted and now need him to deliver. “We are quite happy with the business we’ve done,” said Moshiri. “I think it’s been a very busy transfer window.

“We’ve brought in a lot of new players, especially in the attacking areas. In the No.10 position we have brought in Klaassen, Sigurdsson and Rooney.

“We brought in Sandro Ramirez and we want to give the team a chance to gel.

“These are all Koeman’s signings, so his mark is firmly on the squad.

“Eighty per cent of the squad are his now.

“We would like to finish as high up the table as possible.

“It’s very competitive. The amount of money the top four have spent is quite staggering.

“At the end of the day, it’s about how the squad performs. We are very happy with our squad, we have a good manager so we hope to finish at least in the top six.”