August 24th 2023.
Mauricio Pochettino has shown his admiration for Ross Barkley, the Luton Town star he previously tried to sign as the manager of Tottenham. The Blues face Luton on Friday in their third Premier League game of the season, and the former Chelsea player will undoubtedly be the center of attention.
Barkley was signed by Chelsea in a £15m deal from Everton five years ago, but an unfortunate string of injury problems limited him to 12 goals and 11 assists across his 100 games for the club between 2018 and 2022. He later moved to French club Nice, before returning to the Premier League with Luton last season.
At Thursday’s press conference, Pochettino showed his admiration for the 29-year-old Englishman, responding to a reporter’s question about his previous attempts to sign Barkley with “You remember things from the past!”
He went on to say “Sometimes you can get players, sometimes they can decide to move to another side. I was disappointed but we have to understand it is business. Sometimes a player has different interests. He’s a great player, a very talented player, we don’t know if he’s going to play or not but we know the quality he can add.”
It will be interesting to see how Barkley performs in the upcoming match, and if his connection with Pochettino will have an impact on the result. Either way, it's clear that the head coach of Chelsea has a great deal of respect for the Luton Town star.
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