There has been a lot of talk about Ross Barkley’s place in the Chelsea team lately. The Blues were unable to move the veteran midfielder before the August 31 transfer deadline and he’s wiggled his way back into the squad. Barkley recently returned from a relatively poor stint at Aston Villa that included a plethora of injury problems. Those have been the story of 27-year-old’s career thus far, but if anybody can get the best out of him, it’s Thomas Tuchel.
Barkley joined Chelsea from Everton for £15 million back in January of 2018. It was seen as a low risk, high reward move for a former phenom who had his struggles with injuries. The Blues have done a lot to accommodate Barkley since he arrived in SW6. Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri and Frank Lampard have all attempted to revamp his career by playing him in different areas. However, Chelsea has now gone above and beyond and broken its transfer record to bring in Romelu Lukaku. The two formed one of the Premier League’s most lethal duos in the mid-2010s, so the acquisition of Lukaku can be seen as an attempt to get the best out of Barkley this season.
Chelsea has moved mountains, breaking its own transfer record, to get the best out of Ross Barkley
If you’ve made it this far, I appreciate you and your sense of humor as you’ve likely realized the satire present in this piece’s opening paragraphs. It’s apparent—or at least it should be—that this is not the case as it relates to Lukaku’s transfer. A quick glance at my biography page will tell you everything you need to know about my feelings toward Barkley. My love for Barkley is often the subject of conversation for those too mature to take the easy route and make jokes about me still using AOL as my email provider. I admittedly own the amazing 2017/18 Chelsea third kit with “Barkley 8” printed on the back—I won’t apologize for it either. I wanted him to succeed more than just about anyone else when he made the switch to SW6, so forgive me for still dreaming.
All of that said, the Barkley-Lukaku duo dreams are not unwarranted. The two terrorized defenses in the English top flight during their time together with the Toffees. They combined for 26 goals and 15 assists in the 2015/16 Premier League season. That marked Barkley’s most successful campaign on Merseyside, whereas it was Lukaku’s best up to that point in time. The duo simply works together as they are the perfect combination of pace, power and lethal finishing. Unfortunately, they have gone in opposite directions in terms of their development since then.
As I touched on earlier, Barkley did manage to find his way into the current team by way of not finding himself a suitable move away. The No. 8 was stripped from him and given to Mateo Kovacic, but the English midfielder was eventually named to the Blues’ squad and given the No. 18 shirt. Although the opening paragraphs were satirical, there was still some truth deeply rooted in them. If there is a manager that’ll get the best out of Barkley, it’s Tuchel.
It’s seemingly pointless to continue to pay the midfielder to rot away on the bench. Barkley won’t play an important role in the Premier League, nor is he likely to feature in European play. However, Chelsea is still competing on five fronts (Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Club World Cup), so there are minutes for him to feature. The chance of he and Lukaku playing at the same time are slim to none. If they do though, a 3-5-2 with the two former Evertonians assuming forward roles could be a fun experiment that’d give some supporters reasons to get excited about a League Cup contest. As a bigger Barkley fan than a majority of others on this planet, it’s a pipe dream I want Tuchel to turn into a reality. Get Barkley and Lukaku back together.
Do you think Barkley will feature for the Blues at all this season? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!