Everton Midfielder Ross Barkley Is Missing Transfer Link for Manchester City

There are still a few areas in the Manchester City squad that need evolving if the club is to become a genuine European force. Left-back could certainly be improved upon, and the team could add another striker now that Alvaro Negredo has departed, particularly if Manuel Pellegrini continues his policy of playing two upfront.

However, with City’s squad now the oldest in the Premier League (average age is 28.9), introducing young blood also appears to be high on the club's agenda, as the deal to bring Eliaquim Mangala from Porto has already shown. Finding players who can develop into the very best is the task facing Pellegrini and Txiki Begiristain over the coming transfer windows.

And it seems Everton’s Ross Barkley is high up on their list of priorities. The Everton midfielder, 20, who performed excellently during his cameos for England this summer at the World Cup, signed a new four-year deal at Goodison Park earlier this year. But according to Jamie Jackson writing in The Guardian, City have identified him as their top transfer target.

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City are said to value him at £30 million, a huge fee given his relative inexperience but one that reflects his potential to become a world-class star. City, in need of players who fulfill the home-grown criteria laid out by the Premier League and UEFA, see Barkley as one of the few young English talents capable of making an immediate impact in a blue shirt.

City’s difficulty in recent seasons has been bringing through players from their academy good enough for the first team. Before the takeover by ADUG in 2008, they often produced academy players who went on to play for the first team, but the huge investment in the senior squad has meant making the leap so much more difficult.

The club hopes its new academy—an 80acre campus set to open before Christmas—will be a breeding ground for talent it has produced and nurtured, meaning they can avoid having to pay big fees to bring in the likes of Mangala and Barkley. However, it will take some time before that plan can be fully realised, and, in the meantime, the Everton man fits the bill nicely.

Buying English players good enough for the City side has been difficult. There’s a dearth of talent, first and foremost, and the few players who are good enough to hold down a place and help them achieve their ambitions would cost a fortune. City, it seems, see Barkley as young enough and good enough to justify their £30 million valuation.

And it’s not difficult to see why. Barkley is fearless. He is a player capable of dribbling, tackling, shooting and passing—a complete midfielder with match-winning ability.

Alongside the likes of Fernando and Fernandinho, who would offer the protection he needs to play with freedom, Barkley would prosper and could well prove to be a long-term replacement to Yaya Toure now that he operates in a more advanced role.

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Some will be fearful of Barkley moving away from Everton too soon, citing Jack Rodwell as an example of a player who can make the leap to a top side prematurely and ultimately stunt their progress. However, Rodwell’s problem was fitness, his hamstrings causing him to miss matches intermittently, reducing his chances of producing sustained periods of good form. When he would return from a layoff, his confidence would be reset, and he struggled to show what he was capable of.

Barkley is different. He looks capable of becoming an elite-level player with all the natural ability and confidence of a young Wayne Rooney, another who came through the Everton academy. City, who like to get their business done early and tend to set deals in motion well in advance of a transfer window, appear to value Barkley highly. It’s a deal that would make a lot of sense for them as they look to continue the progress made under Pellegrini’s stewardship.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. Follow him on Twitter @RobPollard.