After having had two offers for James Maddison rejected by Leicester, Newcastle will be putting a Plan B (let’s be honest, at this point, it’s Plan Q) in place.
GiveMeSport’s Dean Jones thinks that the man Eddie Howe will turn to will be Chelsea’s forgotten man, Ross Barkley should they fail to make any headway with James Maddison.
Barkley burst onto the scene at Everton scoring some breathtaking goals and looking like another world-beater from the Everton academy following in the footsteps of Wayne Rooney, unfortunately, it just hasn’t ever got going for the midfielder, and things only got worse when he made the move to Stamford Bridge.
Is Barkley A Good Alternative To Maddison?
Yes
No
Barkley has made 99 appearances for Chelsea and has scored just 12 goals while contributing 11 assists. Maddison beat both tallies last season alone, with 18 goals and 12 assists. He is also reportedly on £100,000 a week, which would see him as one of Newcastle’s top earners if we were to match it.
None of this makes any sense and smacks of desperation. Surely there’s a long list of targets between Maddison and Barkley we can go for before desperation sets in. And I say this as someone who would have snapped your hand off if you offered us Barkley 12 months ago, however, as things stand, with the direction our club is going, this wouldn’t feel like a good move anymore.
THINK YOU KNOW NEWCASTLE? WHO IS THIS FORMER MAGPIE?