Everton: Is Ross Barkley telling the truth?

Ross Barkley claims he never underwent a medical with Chelsea, but should we believe him over Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri?

While admitting to not being a fan of reality TV — and how real can it be, when it’s often scripted/manipulated/manufactured — you can make an argument for professional football providing all the reality and live drama you could ever ask for. Certainly, events involving Everton over these last few days, perfectly highlight this.

In what is fast becoming known as #medicalgate (okay, fine, it’s possible we just made this up now), we’re still trying to get to the bottom of the Ross Barkley transfer fiasco. More specifically, did he actually attend his medial or not?

Initial reports indicated Barkley has changed his mind about moving to Chelsea, but only after completing a medial. Then other speculation emerged, indicating he had walked out during his medical.

Unsurprisingly, Evertonians everywhere were angered by the news, with the 23-year-old apparently costing their beloved club a significant transfer fee. As reported by Luke Gardener of the Daily Star, majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri then contacted Sky Sports to discuss what happened:

"“Well the two clubs agreed a deal of £35m. Personal terms were agreed, but after the medical we heard from Paul Martin, Ross Barkley’s agent, that he changed his mind, And he wanted to reconsider his position during the January window.”"

However, now Barkley has decided to give his version of events, by stepping forward to speak out. Or more to the point, tweet out.

Essentially, the England international denies even undergoing a medical in the first place. As reported by the Mirror‘s Martin Domin, he wrote:

"“I did not undertake a medical with any club at any point. I simply decided that due to my injury, it would be best to make a decision on my future and assess all my options in January when fully fit. Thanks for all of the support.”"

Now, we’ll admit we’re not exactly sure how much support Barkley is receiving. However, he at least deserves the benefit of some objective analysis, to determine if he’s being honest or not.

As such, let’s start with what we do know, at least in respect of what hasn’t been disputed. As far as we can tell, a fee was agreed between Everton and Chelsea, along with personal terms for Barkley.

Next, there is the question of if the Liverpool-born player even went to London in the first place? We don’t actually know for sure at this point, although he has not disputed/denied this either.

Now, at this point it’s worth noting that throughout recent months, Barkley has kept pretty quiet about his future. Most of the information, including turning down a new contract with Everton, saying he wanted to leave, etc, has actually come from other sources.

So, on face value alone, if the midfielder has finally decided to say/write something, it may well add credence to the claim he never actually had a medical with Chelsea. In addition, there is the (amusing) belief the person who called up Sky Sports to discuss the situation, was not even Moshiri.l