West Ham United in hunt to sign Ross Barkley, will leave this summer
Chelsea outcast Ross Barkley is set to leave Stamford Bridge this summer and West Ham are in the hunt to sign him, according to Simon Phillips.
The 28-year-old has not featured in any of Thomas Tuchel’s squads so far this season with Conor Gallagher returning to the club after a loan spell to take his place in the pecking order.
Phillips, a Talk Chelsea journalist, now reports via Twitter that the England international should leave the club before the transfer window closes on 1 September.
As well as the Irons, Everton, Brighton, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa are all keeping an eye on Barkley from the Premier League but it is a team elsewhere who have the initial lead.
Scottish Premiership champions Celtic are thought to have made an offer to sign him on a permanent basis which is Chelsea’s preference but no news of a decision has emerged.
Stay away
It is vital at this moment, having lost two games from two in the Premier League, that West Ham do not panic and start to make moves for players who are not an improvement on the squad.
Barkley would only come in to be a backup to Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and maybe even Flynn Downes and with Chelsea being London rivals of the Hammers, the price would probably be a premium too.
It would be an awful decision to bring the 28-year-old to the London Stadium unless it was for free and he was willing to accept a substantially lower wage than he is on now.
Even then, he will still be among the higher-paid players at Rush Green and there are some very talented young players who could do the same job of warming the bench.
Conor Coventry immediately springs to mind as the most senior academy graduate at the club and even he won’t be needed that often if Rice and Soucek remain fit.