Ross Barkley is a solid player but would not fit with Chelsea’s tactics or XI

Ross Barkley is doing his best to leave Everton, and the Toffees are already searching for his replacement. Chelsea should sit this one out.

First rule of the transfer window: Silly season is going to do what silly season is going to do. The rumour mills have spun up to weapons-grade centrifuge speed on far less than Ross Barkley and Ronald Koeman openly stating Barkley’s desire for a speedy departure. Inevitably, Chelsea will appear in these rumours. If all goes well, those rumours will come and go with no serious consideration from Stamford Bridge.

If Chelsea wanted a 23-year old academy-trained English midfielder who plays best in the centre but is handy on either side, they should have kept Nathaniel Chalobah. The Blues sold Chalobah for £5 million. Everton are starting negotiations are £50 million, but they know that figure will decrease rapidly over the next month.

Signing Barkley would be every bit as wasteful as disrespectful. From a strictly tactical perspective, Barkley offers Chelsea very little new. Barkley fits in best in a three-man attacking midfield line, such as a 4-2-3-1. He would have no place in a 3-4-3 as he does not offer the box-to-box coverage that N’Golo Kante or Tiemoue Bakayoko provide. Nor does he control space as Nemanja Matic could alongside Kante.

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In a 3-5-2, Barkley does not provide a fraction of the creativity and chance creation that Cesc Fabregas brings. Given his size and strength, Barkley can pivot play better than Fabregas, but the downside of that is how much he could slow down Chelsea’s counter-attacks.

As an option in place of Cesc Fabregas the Blues have Lewis Baker. Baker is much more threatening on set pieces than Barkley, and more adept in building up the play.

Ross Barkley also played on the wing at Everton. Again, his physicality could be a useful addition to the Blues but not at the expense of speed on the attack and counter-attack. Barkley would lag well behind the play of Eden Hazard, Pedro, Willian or Jeremie Boga.

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Had Chelsea signed Romelu Lukaku, there could be a slight argument to signing Barkley given the rapport and partnership they forged at Everton. As it stands, though, the only advantage Ross Barkley has over the departed Nathaniel Chalobah is his Premier League experience.

Barkley has the mystical 150+ games at the senior level after ascending to Everton’s first team from their academy. However, he obviously only has that experience because Everton committed to his future and brought him to the starting XI. Last season they did the same with Tom Davies, who may also be entering the transfer market.

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Antonio Conte said this week that the stakes are much higher at Chelsea than at Tottenham or other top clubs. He used that to partially explain why the Blues buy stars rather than take a chance on youth. Ross Barkley would be an expensive reminder to Chelsea fans of what could have been if the club had given Chalobah and other youth more opportunities.