Roberto Martínez will object to any attempt by England to include Ross Barkley in the European Under-21 Championship this summer owing to concerns over the player’s workload.
The Everton midfielder is eligible for the tournament in the Czech Republic and is under consideration for Gareth Southgate’s squad despite not featuring in the qualifying campaign and having graduated to full England honours under Roy Hodgson. The England manager has given the Under-21 coach first call on several young players for the tournament at the expense of their involvement in the senior friendly against the Republic of Ireland plus the Euro 2016 qualifier with Slovenia in June.
Southgate, who will oversee friendlies against the Czech Republic and Germany at the end of this month, has yet to contact the Everton manager about his intentions for Barkley and the Premier League club would have little chance of preventing his participation if selected.
However, Martínez believes it is in the best long-term interests of England and Everton for the 21-year-old to have an extended break from football this summer, with the lack of one a contributory factor in the midfielder’s poor form at club level this season.
Barkley played in the 2013 Under-20 World Cup before his breakthrough campaign in the Premier League last season. He then featured in the World Cup in Brazil last summer and missed the first two months of this campaign with a knee ligament injury, disrupting the midfielder’s progression towards full fitness. Martínez attributes a lack of sharpness to Barkley’s struggle to recapture last season’s impressive form and feels the midfielder needs a complete rest come the end of this campaign.
