Manchester United should be cautious when bidding for Ross Barkley

Barkley has been in fine form for Everton this season

Premier League Champions Manchester United are going through a shaky 2013-14 season and have been linked with a number of players this transfer window, one of them being Everton starlet Ross Barkley. The 20-year-old has been in fine form this season netting 3 goals in 20 appearances including important goals against Arsenal and Swansea City.

The England international has received critical acclaim from former Everton player Gary Lineker and has been compared to another former Everton superstar Paul Gascoigne by his manager Roberto Martinez. The player has show maturity, super passing abilities and great confidence in front of goal. Barkley is full of positives except one thing – his price tag.

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has stated that he will only consider selling his prestigious talent if a club offers around £86 million for the player. In other words; he is not for sale. Barkley has impressed former Toffees manager and current Manchester United manager enough that he is willing to offer £50 million to his former club for the services of Barkley. Honestly speaking, it would be a complete wastage of resources as Barkley is not worth so much money.

Ross is without doubt a talented player and will certainly fit into Manchester United’s system but is simply not worth so much money. A player who is worth that same amount is Barcelona star Neymar. The Brazilian is just one year older than Barkley and was priced away from Santos for around £48 million, 3 million less than what United are prepared to offer for Barkley. Neymar has already made his mark with Barcelona scoring 13 goals in 23 appearances including a brilliant hat-trick against Celtic in the Champions League. Barkley, compared to Neymar, is untested on the world stage and still has a lot to prove.

An offer of around £30 million – not more – should be offered to Everton for Barkley and if the Toffees don’t accept the bid then the Red Devils should move on to other prospects. There are loads of talented young players in other clubs who are waiting to make their mark in football and whose clubs will let them go for far less than £50 million. Take Nick Powell for example. Manchester United paid Crewe Alexander around £4 million for his services in 2012 and were rewarded for their good scouting when Powell scored against Wigan Athletic, Martinez’s former club on his debut. Powell has since gone on loan to Wigan Athletic and has scored 8 goals in 22 appearances for the Latics making him another Englishman to watch out for in the future.

Barkley can be  relied upon and has shown he has the ability to perform in big games which was evident in the matches against Arsenal and Swansea. Manchester United have reaped benefits from a former Everton prodigy who goes by the name Wayne Rooney – a player they paid £25.6 million for. If the Red Devils can’t get Barkley for the same amount then it would be best to let go and hunt for other unpolished gems of talent who are waiting to be converted into diamonds.