Dean Smith heaps praise on summer signing Ross Barkley | OneFootball

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·31 October 2020

Dean Smith heaps praise on summer signing Ross Barkley

Article image:Dean Smith heaps praise on summer signing Ross Barkley

Ross Barkley signed for Aston Villa on a season long loan deal earlier this summer and the 26 year old has been outstanding for his new club so far.

The Chelsea midfielder has scored some important goals for Aston Villa already and Dean Smith has heaped praise on the attacking midfielder for his contribution so far.


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The Aston Villa manager revealed that Barkley was a player his side needed and that is why the Villans brought him to the club on loan. Barkley’s creativity and work rate was missing from Aston Villa’s midfield.

He also claimed that Ross Barkley’s attitude and work ethic has been tremendous so far this season.

Smith said to FourFourTwo: “He’s someone I felt we needed. I look at the Premier League and you need legs in your midfield area because you’ve got to cover a lot of ground in a game.

“Ross does that. He’s got ambitions to get into the Euro squad at the end of the season. With the quality Chelsea have got, they couldn’t guarantee anyone minutes. His work ethic and attitude has been tremendous. He brings us that added bit of quality that we needed.”

The former Everton midfielder has scored two goals in three Premier League games for Aston Villa so far and it will be interesting to see if he can build on this in the coming months.

If he continues to perform at this level, Barkley could easily break into Gareth Southgate’s England squad this season.

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