Ronald Koeman says Ross Barkley's Everton career is not over yet
Thursday 7 September 2017 17:57, UK
Ronald Koeman insists Ross Barkley's Everton career is not over despite his proposed move to Chelsea going belly-up on Deadline Day.
Barkley pulled out of signing for the champions to give himself the chance to assess his options in the January window, when Sky Sports News understands Tottenham want to sign him.
The England midfielder is suffering from a hamstring injury and is not expected to return until November, and Koeman says he will wait until then to decide whether to reintegrate Barkley back into his first team.
"Of course it was a strange last day of the transfer window. I don't think it was only that for Everton but for most of the Premier League clubs," Koeman said.
"Ross came to see me last Tuesday and he explained to me why he turned down the chance to go to Chelsea. That is a private talk with Ross and I am not the right man to explain to you about his decision.
"He was open to making a move to another club and I heard from the board that there was an agreement between Chelsea and Everton. But, finally, the decision was by the player and that was what happened at that time.
"No (his Everton career is not over) because he is still an Everton player. To the end of this season he has his contract Of course the player, at this time, is injured and it will take another two or two-and-a-half months before he is available.
"So I don't need to take that decision now and I can wait and see what will happen. Then we will see what the decision will be at that time."
Everton secured their own late deal for Hajduk Split forward Nikola Vlasic but Koeman, who had previously admitted an interest in Chelsea's Diego Costa, wanted an additional striker.
"Overall I am happy," Koeman said. "Of course we did not 100 per cent do the business because everybody knew we tried to find a striker to bring in and that striker was really our priority.
"But I think we were a little bit unlucky with our option one and our option two. I thought we would get one of the two in but finally we did not."
