Tottenham and Everton bickering over Ross Barkley price?

Everton are spending the summer transfer window buying Ross Barkley out of a job. After teams presumably laughed at their £50m valuation of the English midfielder, a new report from the Mirror has the Blues lowering their asking price to something more reasonable.

Daniel Levy and Tottenham Hotspur, though, remain unsatisfied, and are looking to wait out the situation until Everton are ready to cut a deal at the absolute bottom dollar.

Spurs remain interested in a cut-price deal for Everton midfielder Ross Barkley . They are unwilling, however, to meet the Toffees’ £25million valuation for the 23-year-old who has just a year left on his contract. Spurs are likely to revisit the situation later in the window with Barkley set to leave Goodison.

Of course, it remains wildly unclear how Barkley would fit into Mauricio Pochettino’s setup. While Ross is a nominal fit tactically, Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min, and even a healthy Erik Lamela are all likely better playersin the Spurs system.

If Spurs wanted to shift Barkley to a deeper area of the pitch, he’s blocked there, too. Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele are outstanding, while Eric Dier and Harry Winks will deputize in a pinch. Maybe Tottenham is looking to provide Moussa Sissoko competition in preseason training?

And so, the saga continues. Ross Barkley continues to think he’s good enough to start in the Champions League, and Everton continue their willingness to let him see how that works out.

In addition, Barkley turned down a £100,000 per week contract at Everton, and Spurs only pay their best player Harry Kane £90,000 per week, so it’s likely he’ll be taking a massive paycut to go to London.

Would anyone be surprised if this ends with the Liverpool-born, Everton-bred player hitting passes to Ashley Fletcher in a cavernous London Stadium? Perhaps Mark Hughes is looking for some additional service to Peter Crouch?

Everton were open to making Barkley the highest paid player in club history. Barkley’s inflated estimation of his abilities is not helping him find a new club. Come home, Ross.