Allardyce: Everton resigned to losing Ross Barkley as Tottenham, Chelsea hover

Well, we all knew it was only a matter of time before this transfer rumor would pop up again in the papers. Ross Barkley is now the subject of renewed interest with the January transfer window open again, and the rumors have returned in force. But this time, it’s not just paper talk -- Everton manager Sam Allardyce has come out and said that he fully expects Barkley to depart the club sooner rather than later.

“I think that we are resigned and the club was resigned before I got here that we’re going to lose Ross and I can’t see that changing.

“I expect there would be some interest some time in this window if there’s going to be any interest from one of the big boys.”

The “big boys,” of course, are Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, who both expressed a great deal of interest in the England international midfielder this past summer. Spurs were in protracted transfer talks with Everton throughout the summer, but despite making a few bids never met Everton’s reported transfer fee demands. Meanwhile, there were rumors that Barkley was very close to joining Chelsea on transfer deadline day but pulled out of the deal for reasons that weren’t entirely clear.

Barkley picked up a hamstring injury before the season and hasn’t played for Everton at all in 2017-18, but he’s reportedly close to fitness now after having returned to training. The irony here is that, despite Barkley almost certainly leaving (either in January or on a Bosman this summer), he might not have played his last match for Everton, according to Big Sam.

”He’s back in training full-time. It’s a little bit like James McCarthy and Yannick Bolasie. When he comes back the touch won’t be quite as good as it used to be and the match fitness won’t be quite as good as it used to be. Like James and like Yannick and Seamus and Leighton we’ll have to suffer that until we get them back up to speed.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries. Unfortunately we’re top of the league for the wrong reason and we need to address that one.”

Everton at one point demanded £50m for Barkley, which was frankly ridiculous for a player that’s out of contract in June. I have no idea what price Barkley might command this January, but all indications are that Tottenham are still interested. At this point I’m just going to throw my hands up and wait for more information. I assume Daniel Levy is on it.