Martin Keown feels that Ross Barkley is playing “some of the best football of his career” after he scored the opener for Aston Villa in their latest Premier League match.
Barkley was at one point one of the most promising talents in England. He made his debut for the Three Lions at 19 years of age, having begun to become an important asset for Everton.
After 179 games starring for the Toffees, he moved to Chelsea, where results were mixed, and after a promising loan spell at Villa in 2020/21, Barkley dropped down the Blues’ pecking order to the point of hardly playing.
A move to Nice seemed a step down, and though he then move back to the Premier League last season, he did so with Luton, who were promptly relegated, despite Barkley impressing in a deeper midfield role than the one he rose to fame in.
The midfielder was plucked from Luton to return to Villa, where he has largely made substitute appearances this season, but has impressed. In the last game, a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth, Barkley scored his first goal since returning to Villa Park, to open the scoring.
Keown was impressed not only with the goal, but by what the 30-year-old is making of his career after it could have fallen to the wayside.
“Ross Barkley has come on at half time, we know he has fantastic ability and he is playing some of the best football of his career,” Keown said on Football Focus.
“The ball is falling as he hits it and he is on it in a flash. They needed an element of luck to beat Mark Travers today and the pace of the ball takes it into the back of the net.”
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It’s ideal for Villa to have players who are not regular starters pushing for a place in the side as Barkley is, as that will only raise the level of the midfield corps, which also includes John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Boubacar Kamara, Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans.
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