Ross Barkley of Chelsea is among six players on the transfer list. (GETTY Images)
According to transfer news from Mirror, Dean Smith has confirmed that Aston Villa won’t be signing Chelsea loanee Ross Barkley on a permanent basis. That would deal a bit of damage to Chelsea as they could miss out on a potentially high transfer fee from the sale.
Barkley joined Chelsea in January 2018 from his boyhood club Everton. Despite showing glimpses of his innate ability, the England international wasn’t able to nail down a spot for himself at Stamford Bridge. Following the arrivals of Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz last summer, Barkley sought to leave the club on loan in order to play regularly.
To that end, he secured a loan move to Aston Villa. Barkley made a fine start to life at Villa Park, playing a key role in their strong beginning to the campaign. However, over the course of the season, his form has declined greatly, with intermittent injury problems making things worse. The 27-year-old has now become pretty much an afterthought for Villa manager Dean Smith.
The Englishman has not started even one game since February and that is despite Jack Grealish being injured. Smith cleared the situation on Barkley and pretty much put any talk of a permanent deal to the ground.
“No, Ross Barkley came in on loan at the start of the season. Obviously, Frank Lampard was the manager at the time we brokered a deal to bring him in on loan. That’s where it was. He’s got another two years left on his contract at Chelsea and that’s not been discussed at all.”
Villa have clearly shown a reluctance in matching Chelsea’s £40million valuation of the player. With the season fast approaching its end, Barkley will soon be back at Chelsea.
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