Former City and Newcastle player knows why Barkley refused Chelsea

04 set 2017

Former Manchester City and current Burnley player Joey Barton has says that the reason Everton midfielder failed his move to Chelsea is because the Blues boss Antonio Conte had his mobile phone switched off, according to the Daily Mirror.

Everton had agreed a €40m deal for the England international, with Toffees majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri even making the claim that Barkley was undergoing a medical at Chelsea.

But now Barkley has spoken out on what really happened. The former Manchester City and Newcastle star told talkSPORT: "I heard a really interesting thing about what happened with the Ross Barkley transfer. Conte turned his phone off and Barkley's representatives were trying to contact him.

"He wanted to say: 'Look, where am I going to play', and Conte turned his phone off. That is why Barkley got cold feet and never signed.

"He thought: 'Well, if the manager isn't answering the phone to me he clearly doesn’t want me', and that is why he went back to Everton."