Ross Barkley was born on the 5th of December 1993, and he is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Chelsea.
According to the documented record, Ross Barkley began his professional career at Everton in 2010. That was after loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United he became a regular in their team, playing 179 total games and scoring 27 goals for Everton. The player signed for Chelsea in 2018 and won the FA Cup in 2018 and UEFA Europa League in 2019.
Club career
Everton
Early career
The young star recovered from his injury in time to join the first team for pre-season training before the beginning of 2011–12. During pre-season, Tim Cahill heralded Barkley as the most talented footballer he had worked with. Ross Barkley made his debut in Everton’s first home match of the season, a 1–0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers, and was named man of the match by Radio City Sport. Barkley’s early performances were highly praised, with Martin Keown predicting that Barkley will be one of the best players we’ll ever see in this country.
Sheffield Wednesday
Ross Barkley joined Sheffield Wednesday on a one-month loan on the 14th of September 2012, making his debut the same day in an away defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion. The young midfielder scored his first goal for the club, a penalty, against Bolton Wanderers the following week. Due to his tremendous performance, his loan was extended before he was recalled by Everton after playing 13 matches for Wednesday. Barkley again went out on loan, this time to Leeds United for an “initial one-month stint”, in January 2013 and made his debut for Leeds in a derby match against Barnsley.
However, the midfielder re-joined the Everton first team for the 2013–14 season. There, he scored his first goal for the club on the opening day in a 2–2 draw against Norwich City, and was later named man of the match. It will be pertinent to note that during the first half of the season, Barkley put in several man-of-the-match performances, notably against Arsenal and Swansea City the latter whom he scored the winner against. He received praise from many pundits including Alan Hansen who said Barkley has absolutely everything and Gary Lineker who claimed he is a star in the making and a prodigious talent.
On the 29th of July 2014, the young star signed a new contract with Everton, keeping him at the club until 2018. Before the start of the 2014–15 season he suffered an injury to his medial collateral ligament, and did not play until 18 October 2014, setting up Romelu Lukaku’s goal in a 3–0 home league win over Aston Villa. Ross Barkley scored his first goal of the season in a 3–1 win over Queens Park Rangers on 15 December.
As time progressed, Ross Barkley did not feature for Everton in his final season with the club, having been sidelined with a long-term hamstring injury.
Chelsea
2017–18 season
The 28-year old joined Premier League club Chelsea for a fee of £15 million on the 5th of January 2018, signing a five-and-a-half-year contract with the defending champions. The player was assigned shirt number 8 by the club, the same number he wore at Everton. The English international had been close to joining Chelsea previously on the summer transfer deadline day before a move failed to materialise due to him suffering a long-term injury and wanting to consider his options. After its completion, the transfer was referred to Merseyside Police by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, to investigate the possibility of fraud in the transaction. And after they passed, they realized that no fraud was found. Barkley made his debut in a 2–1 defeat at Arsenal in the semi-final second leg of the EFL Cup on 24 January. At that moment, Ross came on as a first-half substitute, replacing the injured Willian. The sensational midfielder made his Premier League debut for Chelsea in a 3–0 home loss to AFC Bournemouth. But nevertheless, at the end of the season he was an unused substitute as Chelsea beat Manchester United in the 2018 FA Cup Final.
Barkley was however, pictured topless in a nightclub in the month of November 2019. Due to this incident, he was left out of Chelsea’s squad travelling to Valencia, and Lampard was critical of him.
Loan to Aston Villa
Ross Barkley joined Chelsea’s Premier League rivals Aston Villa on a season-long loan on the 30th of September 2020. And on the 4th of October 2020, Barkley made his Villa debut, scoring one goal in a 7–2 home victory over Liverpool.
2021–22 season
The young midfielder, Ross Barkley returned to Chelsea for the 2021–22 season. Statistics has it that he made his first appearance in an EFL Cup third round match at Stamford Bridge against former club Aston Villa on 22 September 2021, coming on as a substitute for Hakim Ziyech in the second half. And on the 2nd of October, Barkley made his first Premier League appearance of the season and played a crucial part in the build up that saw Timo Werner score his side’s second goal, as Chelsea won 3–1 at home against Southampton. However, it will be good to point out that on the 22nd of May, in the last league game of the season, he marked his 100th appearance for Chelsea with the winning goal against Watford, which was also the final goal of the Roman Abramovich era.
International career
The report from BBC has it that Ross Barkley played for England under-19s in 2012. Again, the young star has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-19, under-20, under-21 and senior level.
The Chelsea midfielder was called up to the England U-21 squad in August 2011. Then on the 28th of May 2013, he was named in manager Peter Taylor’s 21-man squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. The young star however made his debut on 16 June, in a 3–0 win in a warm-up match against Uruguay. He scored his first goal for England under-21s on 13 August 2013, in a 6–0 win against Scotland.
Fortunately for him, he was called up to the senior England squad in August 2013, and earned his first senior cap the following month, coming on as a substitute for Jack Wilshere in a 4–0 win in a World Cup qualifier against Moldova at Wembley. Again, Ross Barkley was named in the England squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, and made his World Cup debut as a 61st-minute substitute for Danny Welbeck in England’s 2–1 opening defeat to Italy in Manaus.
Ross Barkley’s Net Worth
Unarguably, Ross Barkley is a famous English football player, and the Forbes update has it that the player has an estimated net worth of £22 million.
Ross Barkley’s Salary
The report also highlight it that the attacking midfielder signed a contract with Chelsea in 2017 that pays him 5.3 million Euros (4.6 million pounds) per year. According to Forbes calculations, he earns €14,481 (£12,463) per day and €603 (£519) per hour!
Honours
Chelsea
FA Cup: 2017–18; runner-up: 2019–20, 2021–22
UEFA Europa League: 2018–19
FIFA Club World Cup: 2021
EFL Cup runner-up: 2018–19
England U17
UEFA European Under-17 Championship: 2010
England
UEFA Nations League third place: 2018–19
Individual
UEFA European Under-17 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2010
Sheffield Wednesday Player of the Month: October 2012
Everton Young Player of the Year: 2012–13, 2013–14