Ross Barkley

[eamonn]

Was it a 3 year deal he signed ?

[stargazer]

Another great cameo yesterday. Oozes quality when on form.

[Louzie0]

Barkley is very, very good at helping us get some control back and seeing out games.  Useful player to have on the bench.

All this and he got a goal as well, yesterday!

What a sub.

[PeterWithesShin]

A Plattesque backheader.

[usav]

A Plattesque backheader.

Absolutely, Derek Mountfield too.  That may be the last time we scored a goal in that manner - struggling to think of any others.

[dcdavecollett]

Ross scored a similar goal against Palace last season.

[eamonn]

Er, even when he was "shit", Buendia was scoring goals like that for us, Wycombe last year,  before that Everton away when their fans threw coins and bottles of piss and Fanta at our heroes as they celebrated.

[dcdavecollett]

And all without action being taken, as far as I know.

[Percy McCarthy]

Mings in 1-0 home win against Fulham.

[Smithy]

I like Ross as a player, technically very good indeed, but he'll be 32 next month, so I wonder how long he can keep going at this level.  I've no idea how well he's looked after himself, he could easily be a Jordan Henderson style figure with another 2 or 3 years comfortably at this level.

Right now, he's an excellent option from our bench (as he's proven more than once already this season), but I'm not sure how happy he'll be doing that for the next couple of years? Or how happy we'd be if he injuries meant he was required for an extended run in the first 11? 

[LeeB]

He doesn't look to have lost anything thus far and through his career he's not played more than 30 games in a season often, so he may still have a bit of juice in the tank yet.

[OCD]

Like Onana, it's all about staying injury-free for a sustained period. If he did and got his fitness to the point where he can be a starter and not worry, then would be the time to look at extending his deal.

[eamonn]

It's good that he's in the Europa squad now, perfect opportunity go give him a couple of starts. Bully those young boys of Bern for a start.