Why England star Ross Barkley should quit Everton this summer

Ronald Koeman’s Everton suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats for the first time this season after going down 1-0 at Swansea on Saturday.

The Toffees would have been hoping to keep the pressure on the top six with victory at the Liberty Stadium, but produced an insipid and disjointed performance in South Wales, with Fernando Llorente’s first half header enough to seal a deserved win for Paul Clement’s men.

Nonetheless, Koeman’s men will finish no lower than seventh in the top-flight this term which is a huge improvement on their 11th place effort under Roberto Martinez last time out, and they will also return to European competition courtesy of their league position.

Thus, with just two games left of the season, attentions are turning to who could be coming in and who could be leaving Goodison Park this summer, and the future surrounding midfielder Ross Barkley remains uncertain with just a few weeks of the campaign remaining.

The England star has still yet to agree a new deal at the club, and manager Koeman has once again stated in his pre-match press conference on Thursday that if no extension is agreed, the midfielder will be sold in the summer.

And a move away from his boyhood club could be exactly what Barkley needs as he looks to fulfil his undoubted potential at both club and international level.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really feel like Barkley is any better a player now than he was 12 months ago, or even when he first broke onto the scene back in 2013.

This term, the 23-year-old has scored just four goals for Everton in 34 Premier League appearances this season, and has at times this season been criticised by manager Koeman, and occasionally dropped from the starting eleven.

Compare this season to the last one, and that lack of improvement comes to light.

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Barkley may have also registered eight assists this season (which shouldn’t be sniffed at), but his goal tally is down, his shots on goal tally is down, as is his pass completion and overall attack score.

And some of those stats, notably the shots on goal tally, indicate a lack of confidence in his own ability which we didn’t really see much of last year, and you wonder whether he is beginning to struggle with the demands expected of a local boy at Everton, and indeed the overall strain and weight of expectation.

And when you consider that he has struggled to nail down a spot in the England team, or even squad, since Euro 2016, you sense that a fresh start may be in order for the midfielder.

He has got the talent, the potential, the ability – we’ve seen it before – but Everton, for whatever reason, do not seem to be getting the best out of him on a regular basis.

Even this season, Barkley has been brilliant one week and poor the next, and this sort of inconsistency isn’t going to earn a regular spot in the England team, as there are more consistent performers out there.

At 23, the midfielder is entering a critical phase of his career – you sense that either his potential will or won’t be fulfilled in the next 18 months to two years, and there are huge question marks over whether he can do that at Everton.

Based on this season, coming after a fine term last time out, it’s not going to happen at Everton, so a fresh start – Tottenham perhaps given Mauricio Pochettino’s record of giving young English players a chance, or Arsenal where Arsene Wenger rarely criticises his players and will back them – may be what the 23-year-old needs to get his career going again and thus fulfil his potential.