Manchester United legend Gary Neville has revealed that Ross Barkley may have rejected the chance to join Chelsea because he had a better offer elsewhere.
Tottenham and the defending Champions were the frontrunners to complete the signing of the England international and he reportedly turned down the chance to join the Blues during his medical on Thursday night.
Neville now believes that one possible reason as to why the 23-year-old Barkley rejected the chance to join Antonio Conte’s men is because he was promised a move to Spurs in January.
He said, “Ross is a homebird. I don’t know the ins-and-outs of it at this moment in time. He might have got down there and thought ‘hang on a minute, I love Everton’.
“Or it may be another club that he wanted to go to more has told him to hang on for five months and they’ll sign him in January. MaybeTottenham or someone else. They may have put some doubt in his mind.”
It will now be very interesting to see how Ronald Koeman utilizes Barkley between now and January. Considering that the player has already made it clear that he wishes to leave the Merseyside club, there is a strong chance that fans may act uncouth towards him.