Ross Barkley rejected a deadline day move to Chelsea and will reconsider his position in January, according to club owner Farhad Moshiri.
Barkley had asked for a transfer away from Everton earlier this summer and a move looked almost certain, with the London duo of Chelsea and Tottenham interested in signing the midfielder.
Eventually on deadline day, Chelsea won the race for Barkley after having a bid of around £35 million accepted by Everton and personal terms were also reportedly agreed upon, with the player passing a medical with the Premier League champions.
However in a stunning late turn of events, the Englishman changed his mind at the last moment and rejected the move to join the Blues.
This caught everyone by surprise and Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has gone on to give an insight into the transfer debacle in a recent interview with Skysports.
He said, “Well the two clubs agreed a deal of £35m. Personal terms were agreed, but after the medical we heard from Paul Martin, Ross Barkley’s agent, that he changed his mind.
“And he wanted to reconsider his position during the January window. He is currently injured so technically he will be with us because he is under contract for another year.
“It is a big surprise but that is football. The No 10 position is very congested as we have [Gylfi] Sigurdsson, [Davy] Klaassen and [Wayne] Rooney. It is not easy to break into that now but he is a good player, he is a world class player but he needs to play.”
There seemed to be no way back into the first team for Barkley at Everton after falling out with the club management earlier this summer but the position could change over the coming weeks until the January transfer window.
Barkley is currently suffering from a hamstring injury and it will be interesting to see if he will be brought into the first team by manager Ronald Koeman after the player returns to full fitness.
Everton might have to sell Barkley for a discounted price in the winter transfer window as the attacking midfielder will have only six months remaining on his contract and he will also be eligible to leave Goodison Park on a free at the end of this season.
