Ross Barkley’s absence from the Everton squad that travelled too Tanzania, in fact has now arrived, raised further question marks against his Blues’ future.
Barkley was issued a squad number this week, he’ll wear no.8 if he stays at Goodison Park, but the England midfielder, who was warned by Ronald Koeman he wouldn’t play for the club again if he didn’t sign a new deal during the summer, hasn’t travelled.
According to Sky Sports, he’s not travelled ‘due to a groin injury’ and has stayed in Merseyside for further treatment but there’s ‘no timescale being put on how long he’ll be out.’
Sky Sports is adamant injury is the only reason and an immediate exit isn’t imminent.
Koeman wouldn’t be drawn on the future on Barkley, 23, when questioned about the midfielder during the official news conference unveiling of Wayne Rooney earlier this week.
25 man squad:
Maarten Stekelenburg, Mateusz Hewelt, Chris Renshaw, Tom Davies, Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams, Callum Connolly, Jonjoe Kenny, Michael Keane, Muhamed Besic, Leighton Baines, Morgan Schneiderlin, James McCarthy, Davy Klaassen, Gareth Barry, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Joe Williams, Kieran Dowell, Kevin Mirallas, Wayne Rooney, Aaron Lennon, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ademola Lookman, Matthew Pennington, Yannick Bolasie.
Having arrived ahead of the friendly with Gor Mahia on Thursday the players were welcomed at their hotel by a Maasai tribe and local people, which was ‘very interesting’ for left back Leighton Baines.
Baines told the Official Website: ‘We received a very warm welcome. It is very interesting for us as the Maasai welcome is not something we see at home. We`ve just come straight off the plane and we are all excited to be here.’
Adding: ‘We will train tonight and we are looking forward to the game tomorrow. But it`s mostly about fitness at this point as we`ve only been back just over a week. It will be a good exercise for us and hopefully the local fans will turn out and enjoy it.’
