Ross Barkley arrived in Chelsea at a time when many fans had doubts about the club’s recruitment strategy and his signing is often given as an example to everything that is wrong about the Blues’ transfer policy. He was talented, but never really fulfilled his potential, is injury prone and spends more time on the treatment table than on the pitch and is said to lack in football intelligence.
However, there was one thing that he had going for him and that was his contract which was running out and Chelsea managed to snap him up on the cheap. This has been a recurring theme for Chelsea recently as they have been wheeling and dealing mediocre players, but the benefits of this policy are yet to be seen.
Betting enthusiasts have already sensed an opportunity in Chelsea’s transfer policy and are already backing them to miss out on the Top 4 for the foreseeable future and go into a steady decline. Betting Strategies such as this one may not always be an accurate method of assessment of whether a club’s policy is faulty or not, but the fact that many punters are writing the Blues off is indicative of a club which is falling from grace.
Let’s see how Ross Barkley’s future prospects at Chelsea are closely tied to the club’s future fortunes and how his career path closely resembles the path that Chelsea are on at the moment.
Poor Decision Making
Ross Barkley has never been known as a good decision maker and Everton fans often held it against him that he’d made the wrong decision at a crucial point in the game. As Graeme Souness once said in an interview, Ross Barkley runs with the ball when he should pass it and passes the ball when he should run with it.
Leon Osman, a former teammate of Barkley, had a similar indictment about Barkley and said that it was a pity that the once hugely talented player hasn’t really kicked on by now and that the fact that he has been playing first team football ever since he was 17 should have shown in his game by now.
Chelsea’s decision making has been equally bad recently as they have gone for mediocre, but cheap players in a market in which players such as Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku where readily available.
Instead, they went for average players such as Davide Zappacosta, Olivier Giroud and our very own Ross Barkley, so the chances that the Blues’ fortunes will resemble Barkley’s career path are very high.
Poorly Arranged Marriage of Convenience
Ross Barkley and Chelsea seem to be tied in a dysfunctional marriage of convenience in which neither side seems to know what the purpose of the other partner is. Chelsea have acquired a player whose value will only drop if he stays on the treatment table and Barkley should have found himself another club if he wanted to play a regular role in a title winning side. In a way, Chelsea and Barkley are dragging themselves down.
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