Ross Barkley claims Everton supporters wanted him to return to the club when he was available on a free transfer despite saying he was once labelled a “rat” by Toffees fans.
The attacking midfielder, 30, came through the ranks at Goodison Park but earned the ire of Everton supporters after leaving for Chelsea in January 2018.
Barkley’s career stagnated at Stamford Bridge and he found himself a free agent after leaving Nice in the summer, before he signed for Luton Town on a free transfer.
Speaking to the Times (16 December), Barkley said: “When I went back [to Merseyside] I used to get fans shouting from the cars, calling me names. I used to just laugh. Fans are passionate and if you’re one of them they feel you’ve let Everton down. They’d shout ‘money grabber’. The fans called me a ‘rat’.
“My mum stayed so she found it difficult. Whenever she’d go out people stopped and asked, ‘Why did he decide to leave?’ My mum’s tried to keep a low profile and just go about her business. That’s one thing she hated but within a year or two it settled, it was fine. Now, when I go back to the city, everyone’s got over it. The fans last year when I was on a free wanted me to go back.”
Some might accept that, at the time, he was moving to a club who where the defending champions and were in a more prominent position to challenge for trophies.
But Barkley was considered ‘one of our own’ by the Everton faithful so it was particularly painful to see him depart, especially midway through a season when he could still have made a big impact at the club.
There may be those who have forgiven and forgot but given Barkley struggled at Chelsea and elsewhere since leaving Everton, it is hard to think there would have been a huge clamour for his Goodison return.
He has been in decent form for Luton this season in fairness, but it feels like this is a relationship that might not ever be properly repaired and it begs the question of how many supporters would truly have wanted his return.
In other Everton news, one local journalist has hit back at a “lazy” claim about the Toffees in recent weeks.
