Reports: Aston Villa in advanced talks with Ross Barkley
Aston Villa are closing in on a deal to sign Luton Town’s Ross Barkley, if reports from The Guardian are to be believed.
Unai Emery is understood to have given the green light to re-sign the former Everton midfielder, who spent a year on loan at Villa Park during his time at Chelsea.
Barkley, capped 33 times with England, was slowly becoming a forgotten entity but a welcome return to the Premier League through Luton Town rekindled his career. He finished the season as the Hatters’ third-highest goal scorer (5), trailing only the duo of Carlton Morris and Elijah Adebayo.
A mainstay at midfield, Barkley amassed 37 appearances across all competitions for Rob Edwards’ side – which is the most he’s made since the 2018/19 season for Chelsea under Maurizio Sarri.
Courtesy of his powerful physique and technically brilliant ball-carrying ability, Barkley reminded the onlookers of his glory days at Goodison Park which saw him emerge as a lethal box-to-box midfielder.
Unfortunately, Luton were confined to relegation but that could open the door for Barkley to continue in the top-flight. Per the reports, Emery is keen on luring the 30-year-old and discussions are moving forward rapidly with the player also giving the green light.
“I want to play in the Premier League. I want to play in Europe again… I feel like for the next three years maybe I’ll still be in my prime years,” he said regarding his ambitions moving forward.
He played 24 times for Villa before returning to Chelsea for his final season there as a fringe player and then moving on to OGC Nice. Villa recently celebrated their European qualification, capping off a sublime season under Emery with a fourth-place finish in the PL.
Although the club is aware of the reinforcements they’ll need in order to compete in the premier European competition, Aston Villa’s accounts don’t make for pleasant reading, as the club recorded annual losses of £119.6m.
They’ll have to offload the likes of Philippe Coutinho and free up their wage bill to comply with FFP regulations.
Therefore, Barkley could prove to be a shrewd signing. It would be cost-effective, and Villa would acquire a player with over 250 Premier League appearances.
Despite a strong season back in English football, Barkley wasn’t called up to Gareth Southgate’s provisional England squad which is stacked with a raft of central midfielders in Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Kobbie Mainoo, Adam Wharton and Declan Rice.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Oleg Bkhambri. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.