Ross Barkley

[Somniloquism]

Wasn't that due to his early season extra curriculars? And therefore, a form of punishment?

It was done because he was not going to be present at the start of the season and no known return date, and as Dave stated someone was going to have to miss out. IF it was a punishment, we wouldn't have dropped him in for the temp squad substitute for Mings.

[eye digress]

I assume it's just that there were 21 players deemed more important.

Yes. But given that he had (slightly mysteriously) made himself unavailable at the time the squad was selected, if I recall correctly, presumably that was one of the factors behind him being deemed less important than others.

[RamboandBruno]

He was injured again at the turn of the year when we bought Abraham and got Bailey back

[cdbearsfan]

Barkley was injured at the start of the season, so that's why he wasn't registered. You can only make two changes in February, so he wasn't competing with Elliott, he was competing with Luiz and Abraham. Probably fair to assume they were more likely to be players we would need at that stage with Tielemans injured and Watkins off form.

[Somniloquism]

Probably first sub on if registered. Strange to the point of stupid why we registered Elliot instead. Emery has very little faith in our bench.

We had just made the deal with Elliot and he was playing at the time which was 2nd September. Barkley wasn't even in training at that point. Surely it would be more stupid to not register Elliot and pick a player we had no inkling of a return date.

[Dave]

He was injured again at the turn of the year when we bought Abraham and got Bailey back

He was back in the squad though at the start of February when we had to do the squad resubmission.

[Somniloquism]

Barkley was injured at the start of the season, so that's why he wasn't registered. You can only make two changes in February, so he wasn't competing with Elliott, he was competing with Luiz and Abraham. Probably fair to assume they were more likely to be players we would need at that stage with Tielemans injured and Watkins off form.

Three, we also changed Bailey for Guessand and again, I think Barkley was injured again around that time as well*.

Full changes were Abraham for Malen, Luiz for Kamara and Bailey for Guessand.

Edit: *He was out most of December and Jan with a knee injury so they might have not wanted to risk him breaking down again after naming him in our depleted squad.

[cdbearsfan]

Ah yes, forgot about Bailey. Three then.

[Mister E]

Ah yes, forgot about Bailey.

Very easily done.

[Villafirst]

He's already contracted until 2027 so I would be more than happy to see how things develop before offering any extension.

I thought he signed a 2 year deal in 2024 with an option for a further year? I presume it's up to the club if they take up the extra years option?

[cdbearsfan]

Barkley Tweeted or possibly Instagrammed pr some such thing that he is contracted until 2027.

[eye digress]

Barkley was injured at the start of the season, so that's why he wasn't registered.

Was he injured or "unavailable" while he dealt with "personal issues"?

[Dogtanian]

Barkley was injured at the start of the season, so that's why he wasn't registered.

Was he injured or "unavailable" while he dealt with "personal issues"?

Does it matter much?

[Somniloquism]

He wasn't available is probably the best terms to use.

[brontebilly]

Feel bad for him that he's not in the Europea squad. He would have got a decent amount of game time plus likely a sub appearance in the final at least.

Probably first sub on if registered. Strange to the point of stupid why we registered Elliot instead. Emery has very little faith in our bench.

Presumably because in September we assumed that Elliot was going to be a crucial part of the first team squad, and in February we thought that including Abraham / Douglas Luiz / Bailey was more important to replace Malen / Kamara / Guessand than the Barkley / Elliot switch.

Elliot's goose was well cooked by Feb. Maybe Barkley was injured then but odd not to swap him in for Elliot either way.