Barkley heading for Sheffield Wednesday

Should this not have been done last season? It seems something somewhere has happened with the lad, with the rumours etc.

The Shite have a 17-year-old who they are not scared of playing or throwing him on during games and he has an issue with decision-making too. So much has been made of that balls up at Blackburn, well I saw Jagielka and Co give away the ball all bloody night last night.

The lad should have been making regular substitute appearances for us by now; I would have him every time over Gueye. I agree, it's not a bad thing, but also feel his last year has not gone to plan, the lad was MotM in one league game, the following week he makes a Jagielka-type balls-up and that was that for twelve months.

The lad should start, he is class.

An astonishing move by the club, given our lack of depth!!

Not astonishing, we can recall him if Weir or Stubbs get injured.

As I stated in the Mailbag Barkley piece...Regular games? both him and us, don't hold your breath.

A loan until Xmas would surely be good for the lad, he could get plenty of games between now and then and then come back for the festive fixture congestion.

Since Moyes had McFadden down last season ahead of Barkley then this loan is a year too late. Reading between the lines, Moyes has been trying to coach the more adventurous side out of Barkley's game. I'm not too sure putting him under the care of another club will help with this aim. More likely he'll take up his natural 'Roy of the Rovers' mindset once at Hillsborough.

The boy was in Evertton squads when he was just 18. To see him only now being loaned out – and his still being miles away from getting the nod from Moyes – surely suggests deficiencies in either the player or the youth coaches.

Think this is a good move. He needs regular games and we could do with a chance to see how good he really is.

Presume we will be able to recall if needed.

As an Evertonian, Dave Jones will look after the lad at Shef Wed. Always had a soft spot for that team, based solely on their unusual name! Wednesday? WTF! Hope Barkely steps up to the plate...

Talking of loans, can we not get Big Vic some game time somewhere else? If he played regularly for, say, Blackpool, then he'd improve and either play better for us or be more saleable. OK, I know we haven't got the numbers at the moment, but in principle it's a good idea, I think.

Alan Ball was playing for England at 19. What is it in 2012 with not playing a kid who is good enough and just need games at the top level? He has to be a quick learner and better than Neville?

Hope he does well at Wednesday if he goes and sets the world on fire. Imagine Roy Hodgson calling him up... hahahah!

Anto, comparing Barkley to Alan Ball is very wide of the mark in my opinion. And suggesting he should play in holding midfield role ahead of Neville? Wrong again. He is an attacking midfielder, and is not ahead of Felli at the moment. It is best to send him out on loan to give him experience.

Dan i'm not sure Anto was suggesting Barkley play the holding role, just pointing out that if Neville is good enough to play in midfield then anyone is.

Anto I think we ideally want our youngsters to learn at a place where their inevitable mistakes will not cost us valuable points. Hence the use of a loan.

"Reading between the lines, Moyes has been trying to coach the more adventurous side out of Barkley's game" - Where is that tin foil hat when you need it?

I think this a great move; he needs more game time under his belt, he his nowhere near ready to play in our first team yet. This will do the lad good, give him more confidence, hopefully he will come back a better player.

I get the impression Moyes doesn't fancy him. Then again, he's got a bit of a swagger, a bit of flair about him... and David doesn't like that, does he?

As much of a gobshite Drenthe was, you always got the impression — no matter if he'd set Goodison Park alight — Moyes would have bombed him out anyway.

I don't think going out on loan will benefit Barkley at all. Is he trying to tell us the likes of Gueye, Anichebe et al are worth more game time??? And has someone pointed out McFadden (god help us)??? No, our Davey would rather throw on his trustees [laughs] Ossie and Nev. No, give the lad a run of say 15 games; if it doesn't work, fair enough... better to have loved than not loved at all.

Not going to happen though, is it?

Is he really good enough?

A loan move did Osman the world of good at Derby if I recall correctly.

Barkley hasn't done too well in the first team thus far. Yes, he has had us on our feet with some long range shots but his defensive work hasn't been great and often his decision making with the ball has left anlot to be desired.

The lad has the tools to succeed, he just needs to sharpen them fully before he is thrust into the fray every week.

The comparisons with Sterling are not really relevant as Sterling is a pacy wide midfielder. A position which is easier to bed into, especially if the player has pace.

As most players, at any level, the position of central midfield is the hardest to master as it involves every aspect of the game bar using your hands.

Ross will benefit greatly from this.

He was only going to go out if we strengthened the squad sufficiently. Since that statement we have only brought in Oviedo and Kennedy. Hardly makes Barkley redundant does it?

On top of that, we failed to sign another midfielder and Gibson has picked up an injury. It is not whether this is a good move for the player or not that concerns me, it is the usual lack of consistent information from the club. The manager seems to have a lot more faith in the likes of Magaye Gueye than he does in Ross Barkley.

Anthony , Barkley played twice against QPR and Huddersfirld out wide too and played great on both occasions, he made a mistake against Blackburn and the next thing we know he is playing with 16 year olds on parks in America.
He showed enough in those early games to have warranted more play time but something somewhere has happened if you ask me.

I think it is a good thing for Barkley, it's obvious that Moyes has no faith in him at the moment. I hope he goes and learns his trade and comes back a more complete player and still keen to play for us. We have faith in him.

Haven't seen anything about this lad beyond tidy and functional.

Looks yet another example of being the best of our youth therefore he's great - really!!

If he got caught dithering in the Prem he'd better learn quick down among the dead men.

Paul Gladwell, as good as Barkley may have looked in those few games a year ago, Moyes and the coaches get to see him play every day and are surely in a better position to judge wether the lad is ready for the first team.

Suspect he`d be struggling to find a lone-home for Gueye,Si ! Can`t say either of `em have ever done much for me.Better for the lad to get a few games elsewhere than degenerate into a Jose Baxter.
It makes me laugh how these FL clubs try to get promotion by making team selection into a revolving door.I read that Leeds Unt. had 14 loan players last season-must be a bloody nightmare for the kitman!

David Moyes sees the lad in training every single day, knows him inside out so I believe if he needs more experience at a good club like Wednesday then who are we to tell him different. By all accounts judging by his cameo appearance in the league cup his inexperience in giving the ball away and showboating was clear. Us as fans don't know what he's like as a person so whilst we're doing well and with a fully fit squad it'll be good for his development. Regarding the comparisons with Sterling, Liverpool are desperate for a front man. Do you really think Brendan Rodgers would ply him if he'd signed Dempsey or even kept Andy carroll??

Well I've been in Sheffield all day today and I've not seen him. Maybe he's coming on Thursday.

Another scenario is that Barkley sets the world on fire creating and scoring goals much akin to a certain Mr Rooney (who Moyes wanted to protect and nurture while Fergie told him to go out and play, we got lots of cover if you make a mistake or give the ball away). Then of course Fergie comes calling for Barkley with cheque for £27mil.

From the games I've see with Barkley playing, he looked quite useful, two-footed and quick and diidn't he score in pre-season with a nice header? There's the old adage "if your good enough you should play".

After reading some of the posts concerning Ross Barkley and the pros and cons of where he should play, should he go out on loan, whether Moyes rates him and will he make it with us got me thinking about the young players that have come through not just at Everton but in England in general.

I remember pitching up to the Fulham game 2 years ago (a dull nil-nil with the Yak missing a chance to win it with the last kick) to find a young unknown Barkley sitting on the bench. Not knowing much about I was hoping to get a look at him but unfortunately that wasn’t to be until the start of last season due to him breaking his leg whilst on England age-group duty.

Unlike many injuries when you break your leg you can’t do much (e.g. improve your ball skills, positional sense, etc) as you’re literally laid up. When you do come back you’ve got to take it easy and build up you’re strength, etc. It seems obvious to me that the 12 months Barkely missed have put him back a bit more than it should have done and as such he tried too hard at the start of last year and according to the official site picked up a few more niggling injuries as he tried to make up for lost time especially as he had a taste of the first team and was lauded by every man & his mum.

Now he’s at the point in his career where he needs game time to make those mistakes so that he is ready when our first team calls. This is similar to Shane Duffy last year who had come back from a career threatening injury himself.

Now this in particular got me thinking about young players coming through at a young age and how many have suffered through injury that has either curtailed their career or threatens to derail – Michael Ball, Francis Jeffers, Jack Rodwell, Wayne Rooney, James Vaughan, Victor Anichebe, Shane Duffy with us (and if you think about elsewhere Michael Owen). This could be due to the fact that these players were obviously too good for their age-group & reserve football and the needs of the squad required them to be thrown into the fray too soon.

Having watched the academy side win the league at Fulham a couple of years ago the pace of the game is light years slower than the Premier League. In that case it's not real surprise that if these players are technically able to hold their own but physically aren’t ready because to play at the first team level you’ve got to have the fitness of an Olympic athlete. Consequently, when younger players pick-up their first injury they tend to pick-up several other smaller injuries as they try to get back into the first team.

I think Moyes has learnt / is learning from the Vaughan & Anichebe examples by not forcing the likes of Barkley & Duffy into the first team too soon into their recovery (we’re also fortunate in that we’ve got some strength in those areas). But at the same stage they need first team football to develop into players for our first team so loan football is the best option for both the player & the club. Hopefully they will return full of confidence and ready to meet the challenge of performing under pressure (as we saw with Duffy last year).

While I want to see more of Barkley this year in our team, currently he’s not at the level to make our first team, but want to see him becoming a dominant figure in our first team for a number of years & not breaking down into another what-if (á la Vaughan).

Who here really can be sure that Barkley will get any playing time at all while at Sheffield Wednesday?

Here at Everton we can control things whether he plays or not, but that will not be the case at Wednesday. We have seen it before with other players going out on loan, they are expected to play every game and they only end up playing a handful.

It is a risk to send him out on loan. He might not be liked by the manager there too, then what? With no recall on his loan then Barkley will end up sitting on the bench for a Championship side.

I mean, if he does not even get bench time here, then what is a manager at Championship level suppose to think of him?

For me this loan will be a risk: Gibson is out, Junior is just back from injury and we have lost out on that Belgian guy. Seems to me Barkley is better off stayinng here where he at least will play U-21 with the best youngsters at Everton, than sit on the bench or hardly play for Wednesday...

Will Dave Jones be able to 100% say that Barkley will play every game while there, I do not think so. It is true then Moyes has shown us all that he really does not like Barkley, he made one mistake then was relegated to the reserves.

Something is going on here that we do not know about. Barkley is ahead of Neville in midfield, and with Gibson out I just think that it would be crazy to loan him out right now.

With Feilani playing further forward we only have one midfielder for 2 roles.

Osman

That means Neville or Heitinga having to move into midfield and that has never worked well.

The mess up on deadline day looks like costing us big time!

Who else is playing 18 year olds in the centre of their midfield in the premier league?! The last two were Wislhere and Fabregas, who were both a lot better than what we've seen from Ross so far ( Wilshere has subsequently borken down through injury from being overplayed). Why should we be any different from everyone else in the league?

Liverpool have a 17-year-old lad playing wing forward, he looks alright but has barely done anything in their three games from which they have 1 point apart from let Tevez go past him for City's equaliser. That Powell kid still hasn't featured for Man U despite them having a midfield problem and he let Ravel Morrison go as well, must be an idiot trusting in his favourites.

Moyes has consistently played Arteta, Pienaar, Fellaini, Yakubu and Jelavic, so just because he didn't sign up some nutcase Dutchman and doesn't regularly play an 18-year-old kid does not mean he has some sort of aversion to attacking players with swagger. He's just gone out and bought three attacking forwards/midfielders, as well as an attacking left back to cover the other attacking leftback we have. Moyes does not have an aversion to attacking players.

Moyes should stick Pienaar in midfield with Fellaini, The new left back / midfielder on the left of midfield.

Howard
Hibbert
Jagielka
Distin
Baines
Naismith
Fellaini
Pienaar
Ovideo
Mirallas
Jelavic

3 - 0 to the Toffees!

I really don't understand all this praise for Barkley...I think it must be the Rooney effect. He has shown a couple of nice touches, and one good display in a match in which we were the dominant team. But he is clearly not ready for first team football. It's not his fault, he is young, and he has lost a year through Injury. I think the experience of Championship football will be fantastic for him. I also assume we have a recall option if we lose another player to injury.

Also, with respect to the central midfield dilemna...how do we know that Fellaini won't drop back? just because he has started the season in a more advanced position, doesn't mean he won't drop back into a more central position with Gibson missing. One decision from Moyes to retain him further up the pitch in the WBA match, doesn't guarantee that he wont start in one of the two cm/dm positions against Newcastle. Personally, if Osman and Fellaini are both playing, I'd like to see Osman in the more advanced central position, or Naismith. We also have the option to play Pienarr more central (he has played fantastically for South Africa there), and place Mirallas on the left wing.

One more thing, has anyone heard anything about a possible Pienarr injury?

Also, I'm with James re. this aversion to attacking players. I believe it is not now true of Moyes. The large majority of players brought into Everton of late have been attacking players, whilst Moyes has successfully nutured the likes of Arteta, Pienarr and Cahill.

"I mean, if he does not even get bench time here, then what is a manager at Championship level suppose to think of him?" - if he is as good as many on here thinks he is, he will surely walk into a Championship side....won't he?

110% behind this move. As Tony J Williams pointed out, if he is anywhere near good as some people on here seem to think then he should get alot of playing time at a decent Championship club which will really aid his development and give us a chance to see what he is capable of when given a run of games. If he doesn't play then surely no-one can argue that he should be playing for us.

Hopefully he has a stormer, extends his loan for 6 months and play every game, then comes back to us in the New Year ready and improved for some Premiership action.

This is one of those only time will tell scenarios. Nobody really knows the real deal with Ross, how badly his injury damaged him physically and mentally.

As for our midfield without Gibson, surely it's Osman and Fellaini behind Naismith, Pienaar and Miralles.