Ross Barkley was once hailed as a generational English talent who could surpass even a player as gifted as Paul Gascoigne if he kept his career on track after breaking through at Everton. Perhaps it is fitting then that the former Chelsea star’s stock has taken a sharp decline in a similar manner as Gascoigne’s after opting to head abroad to rescue his career.
Early comparisons to Gascoigne were understandable, given Barkley’s panache on the ball and ability to dribble past defenders. Martin Keown once said he would be “one of the best players of the game we’ll ever see in this country”.
The central midfielder had enough flair and talent to make the grade at Everton, but off-the-pitch problems and injuries began to take their toll on his career.
The 29-year-old spent four-and-a-half years at Chelsea after joining in a £15million deal from Everton. Barkley had suffered from injury problems which blighted his career at Goodison Park and those same issues hampered his progress in his peak years at Stamford Bridge, with muscle problems interrupting his progress at the club.
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He was also cast aside when the club’s golden generation of youngsters such as Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham emerged. Barkley made 100 appearances for the Blues but only 17 of those came in his final two campaigns at the club after falling out of favour under Frank Lampard and then Thomas Tuchel.
He was training with the club’s reserves at the start of the season under Graham Potter when it became clear the club were keen to rip up his contract – and the feeling was mutual for Barkley. In September, Barkley made the surprise decision to head for a new adventure in France, penning a contract with Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice.
The club had made a concerted effort to bring in British players and those from Premier League clubs, with Aaron Ramsey and Kasper Schmeichel also signing on. In his first interview with the club, Barkley spoke of his excitement after being convinced to join the club by INEOS CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
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“Nice is an ambitious club. They presented me with a project over multiple years. It is a club that wants to go far, that wants to be a big club at a European level,” he said. “I managed to speak with Dave Brailsford, who showed me the growth project at the club. Jim Ratcliffe also convinced me to come here to help the team progress.
“I was also convinced by the coach, who is a big European-level coach, and who plays an attacking style of football. I have seen his former sides play and it’s something that guided my choice.”
But any hope of him locking down a regular spot in the Nice team were dashed early on. On his first start for the club, Barkley attracted heavy criticism with French newspaper L’Equipe, who are notorious for giving low ratings to poor performers, in a 2-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Barkley was handed a three out of 10 rating for his display, the lowest of any player on the pitch, and was unsurprisingly hooked by his manager after 60 minutes. He was branded a ‘flop’ in the explanation for his ratings and since then, he has only started five more games in 18 appearances overall.
His efforts have gone largely ignored at the Allianz Riviera, having scored in the 2-1 defeat to Rennes. Despite scoring and performing well in that game, he was benched for the next fixture – only to prove his manager wrong by netting twice in Nice’s 6-1 demolition of Montpellier in an impressive cameo.
Lucien Favre’s sacking has coincided with Barkley being used even less than before, with his replacement Didier Digard handing Barkley 20-minute cameos at best in a bit-part role. It has quickly gone pear-shaped for Barkley in France and, with a contract only running until 2023, he has little time left to impress.
For a player who was earning call-ups to England squads as recently as 2019, Barkley’s decline has been disappointing for those who expected big things from his career. Now he faces a decision about where to go next after struggling with Nice, and he may need to return to the Premier League for another reboot after failing to shine in France.