Ross Barkley

Ross Barkley (born 5 December 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Luton Town.

Ross Barkley was born on 5 December 1993 in Liverpool, Merseyside.

He is of Nigerian descent through his father and bears his mother's maiden name instead of his father's name, Effanga.

He joined Everton as an 11-year-old and played for the club's youth teams.

Barkley began his professional career at Everton in 2010.

After loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United he became a regular in their team, playing 179 total games and scoring 27 goals for Everton.

He was named as a substitute in a first team league match in early 2010–11, and was expected to make his Premier League debut before his leg was broken in one place after a collision with Liverpool's Andre Wisdom during an England under-19 match in October 2010.

He recovered from his injury in time to join the first team for pre-season training before the beginning of 2011–12.

During pre-season, Tim Cahill heralded Barkley as the most talented footballer he had worked with.

He made his debut in Everton's first home match of the season, a 1–0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers, and was named man of the match by Radio City Sport.

His early performances were highly praised, with Martin Keown predicting that "[Barkley will] be one of the best players we'll ever see in this country."

He signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract in December 2011.

On 14 September 2012, Barkley joined Sheffield Wednesday on a one-month loan, making his debut the same day in an away defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion.

He scored his first goal for the club, a penalty, against Bolton Wanderers the following week.

His loan was extended before he was recalled by Everton after playing 13 matches for Wednesday.

Barkley made his debut for the England national team in 2013.

He again went out on loan, this time to Leeds United for an "initial one-month stint", in January 2013 and made his debut for Leeds in a derby match against Barnsley.

Barkley re-joined the Everton first team for the 2013–14 season.

He scored his first goal for the club on the opening day in a 2–2 draw against Norwich City, and was later named man of the match.

During the first half of the season, Barkley put in several man-of-the-match performances, notably against Arsenal and Swansea City – the latter whom he scored the winner against.

He received praise from pundits including Alan Hansen and Gary Lineker who said Barkley was a star in the making and a prodigious talent.

He played for England at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and was selected in Roy Hodgson's 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016.

Barkley's first FA Cup goal came on 4 January 2014, opening a 4–0 win over Queens Park Rangers in the third round.

In March, Barkley scored a superb solo goal against Newcastle United in which he ran from his own half to net the opener in a 3–0 victory.

On 18 April 2014, he was named as one of the six players on the shortlist for the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

He scored a total of 6 goals in 34 Premier League matches throughout the season, including a goal against Manchester City on 3 May which BBC Sport described as "spectacular" and was awarded goal of the season at Everton's end of year awards.

On 29 July 2014, Barkley signed a new contract with Everton, keeping him at the club until 2018.

Before the start of the 2014–15 season he suffered an injury to his medial collateral ligament, and did not play until 18 October 2014, setting up Romelu Lukaku's goal in a 3–0 home league win over Aston Villa.

He scored his first goal of the season in a 3–1 win over Queens Park Rangers on 15 December.

Barkley started the 2015–16 season with goals in Everton's first two league matches.

Barkley scored Everton's first goal of the 2016–17 season on the opening day of the season, netting in the fifth minute of a 1–1 home draw against Tottenham Hotspur.

In May 2017, Everton manager Ronald Koeman issued an ultimatum to Barkley, stating that if he was not signing a new contract, despite being offered an extension by the club, he would be sold in the summer.

Koeman said on 26 July that Barkley had told him that he was ready for a new challenge and that he would not be signing a new contract with the club.

Barkley did not feature for Everton in his final season with the club, having been sidelined with a long-term hamstring injury.

He signed for Chelsea in 2018 and won the FA Cup in 2018, the UEFA Europa League in 2019 and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2021.

On 5 January 2018, Barkley joined Premier League club Chelsea for a fee of £15 million, signing a five-and-a-half-year contract with the defending champions.

He was assigned shirt number 8 by the club, the same number he wore at Everton.

Barkley had been close to joining Chelsea previously on the summer transfer deadline day, before a move failed to materialise due to him suffering a long-term injury and wanting to consider his options.

Days after its completion, the transfer was referred to Merseyside Police by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, to investigate the possibility of fraud in the transaction.

Having earned 33 caps, Barkley last appeared for England in 2019.