Chelsea weigh up bid for Arsenal and Tottenham target Ross Barkley

Target: Ross Barkley is "100 per cent" expected to leave Everton this summer
Getty Images
Simon Johnson28 July 2017

Chelsea are considering whether to join the race to sign Arsenal and Tottenham target Ross Barkley this summer.

It is understood that Chelsea have an interest in the England international, along with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and are monitoring their situation at Everton and Arsenal respectively with both left with just one year on their contracts.

Everton boss Ronald Koeman revealed last night that Barkley has told him he wants to leave Goodison Park after rejecting a new deal.

Tottenham are the favourites to secure the 23-year-old's signature as coach Mauricio Pochettino is a huge admirer.

But Chelsea coach Antonio Conte has made buying another midfielder one of his main priorities before the window shuts and Barkley has the added appeal of being English.

No bid is imminent yet and there will a wariness from Chelsea's point of view about negotiating with Everton having lost out on two of their players before - John Stones two years ago and Romelu Lukaku this summer to Manchester City and Manchester United respectively.

Everton want £50m for the Academy graduate, who has scored 21 goals in 150 Premier League games for the Merseyside club. The player will also want a contract in excess of £100,000-a-week.

The players on Chelsea’s transfer shortlist

1/16

Speaking about Barkley, Koeman said: "Ross told me at the end of the season he wanted another challenge.

"His personal situation is really not so difficult. My priority is not Ross, with respect, it is his decision. I look more to other players. I knew this at the end of the season.

"Everyone knows what the situation is and that's enough, I don't talk any more about this."

Significantly Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo appears to be on good terms with Barkley.

The duo were spotted having a brief conversation in the tunnel at Goodison Park following Chelsea's 3-0 win over Everton at April.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in