Everton and Tottenham playing chicken over Ross Barkley transfer

There are many ridiculous parts to the Ross Barkley transfer saga. That the Everton-bred midfielder wants to leave his boyhood club at all is certainly one of them. Another is Barkley’s alleged wage demands (over £100,000 per week), and another still is the rumoured fee that the Blues want from Tottenham Hotspur (£50 million?!?)

According to both the Mail and Mirror, though, all parties not named Spurs are going to have to start climbing down from their respective high horses. Tottenham are (duh) unwilling to bust open their wage structure for a fringe player, and equally loathe to pay an exorbitant price, even in the current transfer market.

The reports state that Everton may be willing to accept an offer in the region of £35 million, and that Barkley will have to lower his salary request to something below £100,000 a week.

While this is all fairly obvious, the fact that (presumably) Spurs are now pushing this information does bear noting, because Mauricio Pochettino may be getting impatient. It’s not hard to see a world where Tottenham abandon ship in terms of their Ross Barkley pursuit. Ross’ - and Everton’s - demands are, at present, unreasonable.

It’s clear that Ross Barkley is leaving Everton this summer. Where he’s going? Less so.