Speaking on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, Dominic Fifield heaped praise on Aston Villa, midfielder, Ross Barkley.
Since moving to Villa from Chelsea on a season-long loan deal in September, Barkley has been in incredibly fine form for Dean Smith’s side.
Over his two Premier League appearances for the Villans, the £19.35 million-rated 26-year-old has already scored two goals, with one coming in the club’s 7-2 thrashing of Liverpool and the other coming as the late winner in the club’s 1-0 victory over Leicester City on Sunday.
In addition to his goals, the midfielder has also averaged a highly impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.96 over his appearances for Villa – ranking him as the club’s second-best performer in the league, behind only Jack Grealish.
The England international was one topic of conversation on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, in which Dominic Fifield raved about Barkley’s recent performances, as well as dubbing the midfielder “an inspired signing” by the club.
He said: “When he builds up a head of steam, he has that air of, ‘I’m unstoppable’ about him. We only ever see [it] in flashes, that’s true, but he will play 35 games at Aston Villa this season, and he will showcase exactly what he’s capable [of].
“Of all the business [Villa] did – and everybody focused, rightly, on Ollie Watkins, given the size of the fee – Barkley was an inspired signing, in my opinion.
“He [is] perfect for that balance with Grealish, they’ve got a holding midfielder who doesn’t want to move in [Douglas] Luiz [who] just sits there and these guys can just bomb forwards and they will cause all sorts of problems to all sorts of opposition.
“He’s started so well, he could go on and score 10 [or] 12 goals this season and re-establish himself in the England setup and potentially go back to Chelsea and demand inclusion in Frank Lampard’s side.
“That’s a difficult proposition. More likely, I imagine, is Villa go out and spend £30 million [or] £40 million to make [the] deal permanent, because he’s got the quality and he’ll carry them forward this season.”
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TIF Thoughts on Dominic Fifield’s praise of Ross Barkley…
From Fifield’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Barkley is, and will continue to be, a great signing for Aston Villa, as well as appearing to believe that the club could go on to make his loan deal a permanent move next summer.
And, if Barkley can keep up his fine form, should the club indeed go on to land the midfielder on a permanent basis next summer, he would appear to be a very exciting signing for Villa.