Everton manager concedes Barkley’s future may already be sorted

Everton manager Sam Allardyce wants Ross Barkley to stay at Goodison Park but concedes a deal may already have been done.

Barkley’s current Everton deal is due to expire at the end of the summer and the England international turned down the chance to leave Goodison Park in pre-season to decide on his future in January.

The 23-year-old has not featured for Everton this season as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury sustained in the summer but his future remains unclear following the departure of Ronald Koeman in October.

New Everton manager Allardyce insists he remains hopeful of convincing Barkley to stay but concedes that decision may already be out of his hands.

“I’d like to think we can keep Barkley, unless somebody’s already done a deal for him,” The Daily Mirror quote Allardyce as saying. “I am not daft enough to know in this game that those words and phone calls might not have already gone on.

“If we could get Ross Barkley to stay then nobody would be more delighted than me. Whether that is a possibility I do not know. For me it’s about getting him back in the squad first and seeing where we go from there.”

Everton strengthened significantly in Barkley’s position over the summer but have struggled for consistency on the pitch.

Despite not featuring this season, Barkley has created at least 26 more goalscoring chances than any other Everton player in the Premier League since the start of last season (84).