Former City and Newcastle player knows why Barkley refused Chelsea
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."