Newcastle United interested in signing Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley. The Magpies are actively scouring the market for a progressive, box-to-box goalscoring midfielder to fill the creative void in their midfield.
England international was brought to Stamford Bridge from Everton in a reported £15m deal back in 2018 but has since struggled for consistent playing time and has just netted 11 goals in 86 games he made for the Blues so far, according to Transfermarkt.
Injuries have always played a huge part in his downfall, and terrible displays mean he could not justify the media hype around him. Last year, Ross was sent on a season-long loan to Aston Villa.
Barkley made a bright start at Aston Villa struck up an impressive looking partnership with Jack Grealish, Ross also starred in the 7-2 thrashing of Liverpool, but then another injury means the playmaker had to miss nine matches, after which he again became inconsistent and struggled to get minutes.
Reading out some stats from his tenure at Aston Villa, the English midfielder contributed to 3 goals and one assist in 24 games, out of which six were a substitute. His attacking metrics are decent, but Barkley was constantly criticized for his lack of defensive contributions.
Ross is all about pace, power, strength, and technique are his strengths, and it’s very hard to stop him when Barkley’s dribbling through the opposition midfield. Barkley’s got a wand of a right foot and is also elegant with his finishing.
The German manager has made it very clear that the English midfielder is not in his plans, and the Blues are very keen to offload Barkley this summer and recoup some of the invested money if possible. Ross still has 2-years left to run on his Blues deal.
The Magpies are a little bit short in midfield at the current moment, Shelvey is currently out with a groin injury, it looks Matty Longstaff may be moved out on loan to the championship, and Willock’s departure leaves a hole in the midfield.
It is also believed that the Magpies manager is a big fan of the 27-year-old midfielder and would want to bring Ross to St James’ Park to be a coup for Newcastle United. Still, his monstrous wages may scupper the talks as the English midfielder is on a hefty £100k-a-week wage packet, which is well above Newcastle’s range.
