Reports: Manchester United to battle Chelsea for Premier League star

What's the story?

In what can be termed as a rather peculiar turn of events, Jose Mourinho is keen on being a bystander to an injured Ross Barkley and take him home as soon as he recuperates. According to the Mirror and various other media outlets, Manchester United have enlisted themselves as potential suitors for the 23-year-old England international who is in the doghouse at Goodison Park. Chelsea are also reportedly keeping track of the Evertonian.

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The arrival of Davy Klaassen from Ajax and Ronald Koeman's eagerness in signing Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea have now breathed an air of expendability about Barkley.

The Englishman who was even monikered as the next Wayne Rooney has had an underwhelming season in that regard.

Tottenham have been sniffing around with an offer but with arms not wide open owing to the wage demands of Barkley which are dastardly to White Hart Lane (now Wembley) standards.

The heart of the matter

Ross Barkley is a number ten and if there's any spot in the United line-up that has no dearth of options it is the one and same. In Juan Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Andreas Pereira and to an extent, Paul Pogba, United can assemble a legion of top quality players capable of playing the hole to trigger off of Romelu Lukaku or Marcus Rashford. It is hence particularly baffling that Mourinho would go knocking at Everton's door for a youngster who they ludicrously value at £50m, a figure which has already made Spurs decide to stave it off.

But the 'Special One' might be hoping to station him centrally, a position where Barkley made a name for himself and burst on to the scene.

Chelsea, on the other hand, could be looking at Barkley as a backup option so that he can ease the burden on Eden Hazard. In addition, there is the allure of a homegrown talent which is hard for an English club to resist.

Barkley will also be missing out on the beginning of the season after going through a groin surgery very recently. The England international picked up just five goals and eight assists in 36 Premier League appearances in the 2016/17 season.

What Koeman and Barkley need to latch on to from a reading of those stats is getting realistic about their demands. Barkley already turned down a £110,000 per week offer from Everton. And Spurs' rigid wage structure doesn't let them pay a certain Harry Kane that amount of money.

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Author's take

Everton, who have already spent a significant sum of money in the summer will want to get something back so they can get zippy in their pursuit of Sigurdsson. But they are unlikely to get £50m for Barkley and should down the price to at least £30m to turn Jose's or Conte's curiosity into attention this time.

As far as the Red Devils are considered, wage demands have proven to have little deterring effect at Old Trafford and that could be the factor that lures Barkley to move away from Goodison.

The midfielder is only 23 years old and at worst he'll still make a solid squad player. With United making their return to Europe's elite competition this year, they need squad depth and that's where a playmaker like Barkley can come in. If Mourinho can make him adapt to a more central role in United's midfield, they can put their feet up and snatch forty winks when Michael Carrick retires at the end of the season.

But realistically, United and Chelsea might not be ready to fork out anything more than £30m for a player who has had an underwhelming season.