Barkley: His time has come

Ronald Koeman has shown his ruthlessness in recent weeks and has clearly made his mind up on some players who wont be playing for the club again, he has decided where he needs to strengthen, and started to develop the team in his own image, Ross Barkley is evidently a huge part of that image.

Barkley is a huge part of our club image, all football clubs love having a local lad being one of their best players, and even better when he’s captaining the side. It’s his face on a lot of our merchandise, its his picture that the media use most often when talking about Everton, it’s his name that generates the most debate amongst Evertonians. He’s well on his way to becoming our main man in every aspect, and the pressure and expectation that he has on his shoulders will only increase. He is our ‘franchise player’ as the Americans would call it, the player who can build your team, club and marketing strategies around.

Barkley is 22 and coming past the age where people say “don’t put too much pressure on him”, it’s coming to the point where there are no longer any excuses. It seems like Koeman hasn’t adopted the arm around the shoulder strategy, it seems he’s adopted one of giving the young man responsibility and expectation. Koeman has took all of Barkley’s hiding places away, and it might be the best thing that could have happened to him.

What’s in a shirt number? Well, a lot in football, with a number can come superstition, history and expectation. As a number 20, people don’t talk about it. Who’s the best number 20 in history? You’d have to be a serious football aficionado to even think of a handful of players who’ve worn the shirt. Now who’s the best number 8 in history? Anyone down your local put could have a night long debate on that. It seems like with the number, it was a symbolic move for Ross Barkley to now become one of Everton’s star players, and prove to everyone that he deserves to be there.

If the number was symbolic, giving him the captains armband was even more so. It means little in football in a practical sense, but huge significance is put onto the captaincy. A lot of Evertonians want Ross Barkley to be captain, they want him to be the go-to guy when things aren’t going well, and take the game by the scruff of the neck, it seems Koeman wants that too. It’s probably going to remain the case that when Phil Jagielka doesn’t play, Gareth Barry will take the armband, but Barkley being the next permanent captain of Everton is an idea that would make a lot of people happy. He took responsibility on the ball and on the pitch, and the manager will be hoping to see more of the same as the season rolls on.

It’s time that Ross Barkley stood up to be counted, he’s still young and not the finished article, but being told that he’s one of the leaders of this football club could be a great thing. He’s been at the club since he was a little boy, that boy turned into a teenager and now that shy, insecure teenager is seemingly turning into an assured, confident man. The next ten years could be special for this football club, and if Barkley stays here during that time then he’ll be an Everton legend. After all the talk and all the debate about Barkley over the last five or so years, I think this will be the season where we’ll see the best of him on a regular basis, and it’ll be a joy to watch.