He was supposed to be Lampard’s successor, instead he’s now signed with a Premier League newcomer

When Ross Barkley transferred from Everton to Chelsea for just under €17 million in January 2018, it was rumoured that he would replace Frank Lampard. However, he couldn’t replace anyone at all.

Ross Barkley was supposed to replace Frank Lampard at Chelsea. The engagement didn’t start happily, Barkley injured his hamstring and didn’t play much. He alternated the 2018/19 season between the starting lineup and the bench, sometimes not getting into the game at all.

However, in the Europa League, he featured regularly in the regular group and in the knockout stages as well. He was an important part of the Europa League winning team, but played less than a quarter of an hour in the final. Statistically? 5 goals and 6 assists in 48 games. Wearing Lampard’s number eight, better numbers were expected.

The next season, he labored with a leg injury for almost the entire fall. He did start in the spring, but he didn’t start as a replacement for a goal scoring and productive player like Lampard. He did record 5 goals and 5 assists, but the performances weren’t great.

In the next two seasons he only started 41 games. He scored 9 goals in that number of games. Let’s not forget that he spent the 2020/21 season on loan at Aston Villa. So let’s add it up, Barkley managed 19 goals in 4 years of his contract at Chelsea.

Frank Lampard scored 22 goals in the Premier League in the 2009/10 season alone. In Barkley’s defense, he only cost just under 17 million euros. If he had cost more, it would have been a lot worse for Chelsea and would have been money well spent.

But where did the comparisons to Lampard come from? The player himself probably doesn’t know. Perhaps it is the position on the pitch that unites them. If we pour pure wine, Barkley didn’t stand out in the end and didn’t score many goals even before his time at Chelsea. Probably high expectations were behind the extinction of his star at leading Premier League clubs.

After signing as a free agent with OGC Nice, he only started in nine games in the opening fixture for the entire season in Ligue 1. Even from these not so favourable conditions, he has extracted 4 goals and 2 assists. Not too bad for a substitute. However, in June this year he left the French club as a free agent and was looking for a new engagement.

The English midfielder’s next club will be Premier League newcomer Luton Town. At a lesser watched club without any great expectations, he can show that he is still capable of great passes at the age of nine and twenty.

Source: Transfermarkt