BARKLEY RULED OUT
The manager of Everton, Roberto Martinez, has said that his team might not get the services of Ross Barkley for the next one and half months.
The 20 years old central midfielder from England had injured himself while playing for the Toffees in the FA Cup match against Queens Park Rangers a few days back. He didn’t feature in Everton’s match against Norwich City last weekend and Martinez reckons that the player might have suffered a fracture.
Barkley has been a key player for Everton this season. He has put up several match winning performances and losing him is certainly a big blow for the Merseyside club especially at a time when they have to play quite a few tough matches away from home.
Talking to the reporters about Barkley’s injury yesterday, Martinez said, “There might be a fracture in Ross’ toe and in that case, I think he will have to be on the sidelines for some weeks. His condition will be assessed by the medical team.”
“His injury is pretty much like that of Leighton Baines and you are never quite sure about these sorts of injuries. Sometimes, the players get fit pretty soon and start playing, but, sometimes, it can take them a bit of time.”
Barkley had started his senior career for Everton about 3 and half years back, but, before this season, he hadn’t been given that many playing opportunities. In fact in the last season, he hadn’t spent that much time at Goodison Park. He had been playing for other clubs on loan. But, he returned to Everton at the start of the ongoing season and was featuring regularly for them before getting injured.
In total, Barkley has played 32 league matches for the Toffees and has scored 3 goals.