Chelsea Transfer News: Blues Reportedly Make Bid for Ross Barkley

Chelsea have reportedly bid £25 million for Everton midfielder Ross Barkley as the club prepares to add as many as four players during the final days of this summer's transfer window.

The offer has been made for Barkley, according to Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph, who also noted how the Blues are working on deals for Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Leicester City playmaker Danny Drinkwater, while there is still hope striker Fernando Llorente will arrive from Swansea City before the window closes on Thursday.

Law detailed how "Everton originally valued Barkley at £50m at the start of the window, but are aware they will no longer get close to that figure and are now in talks with Chelsea over a deal."

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There is also competition for the England international from Tottenham Hotspur, with neither of the London rivals concerned that Barkley is out for "around three months with a hamstring injury and is in the final 12 months of his contract," per Law.

Barkley represents an interesting target since his considerable potential has remained largely unfulfilled during his time with the Toffees. Everton manager Ronald Koeman hasn't always had confidence in the 23-year-old, despite his drive, shooting power, technical quality and eye for a pass.

Instead of relying on Barkley in the attacking areas of midfield, Koeman has given Tom Davies playing time, while also spending £45 million on Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Barkley would face even tougher competition at Chelsea, where Tiemoue Bakayoko, N'Golo Kante and Cesc Fabregas hold sway in the central areas of midfield.

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Even so, Chelsea are pressing ahead with a deal for a precocious but so far inconsistent talent. It's a similar story with Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is expected to complete a £40 million switch to Stamford Bridge this week, per David Ornstein and Simon Stone of BBC Sport.

There may be questions about all of Chelsea's current targets, but manager Antonio Conte remains keen on Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Drinkwater to "boost Chelsea’s home-grown numbers" and fill out the squad, per Paul Joyce and Gary Jacob of The Times (subscription required).

It's all fine in theory, but a talent as intriguing as Barkley is going to want to do more than just make up the numbers.