Roy Hodgson believes Ross Barkley should use Roberto Baggio and Francesco Totti as his template as he seeks to sharpen an attacking edge in his own game. The England manager is confident the 21-year-old can go on to excel for club and country as a goalscoring creator behind a striker.
Barkley has recovered his poise impressively this season after toiling at times last term, re-establishing himself as a key member of Roberto Martínez’s resurgent Everton. He has featured in every game for the Merseyside club, starting each of their Premier League fixtures to date, and has contributed three goals and as many assists, already more than he managed over the entirety of the last campaign.
Hodgson used him in both Euro 2016 qualifiers last month and he is expected to play a significant part against Estonia and Lithuania as England complete their qualification campaign and seek to maintain a pristine record. Yet for Barkley to become a regular in the attacking trio behind a striker, and particularly in the central support role he has enjoyed this season at Everton, the manager admits he must add more bite to his game.
“If you want to be that player then you have to score goals,” said Hodgson. “If we take the real classic players in that position in the past, I would be looking at Roberto Baggio, whom I had the pleasure of working with very briefly [at Internazionale], and Francesco Totti. Over their careers they scored an awful lot of goals and I don’t know if you can have the luxury of someone who can play in there unless he’s going to be chipping in with a few. We’ve talked to Ross about that and I’m sure Roberto has too, so he’s more than aware of it.”
Barkley is at a similar age to that when both Italians first established their reputations. Baggio had enjoyed a relatively prolific season with Vicenza in Serie C1 when he was 18 but his first truly productive campaign was at Fiorentina, in Serie A, as a 21-year-old in 1988-89. Totti flourished with Roma at the age of 22 and made his Italy debut in 1998-99. “I think Ross is going to score goals and they would be my template,” said Hodgson. “He should be thinking: ‘Right, this is the position I want; this is the position I’m good at; I’m going to provide some goals but I’m also going to score a few myself.’
“In saying that, if he’s going to be a real, serious candidate [in this England team], he’ll have to threaten people like James Milner, Fabian Delph, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana and not just say: ‘Well, if you want me I can only play here,’ because we might not have that specific position available. This season he really seems to have made a place in the Everton starting lineup his own and I know Roberto’s pleased with him.
“We always liked him. So once again it’s up to him. There is competition for places but we think he’s good enough to play for England and he’ll get his chances. He’s got the qualities, don’t worry about that. He’s a big powerful lad, he can go from box to box. He doesn’t lack anything at all.”
Hodgson, who confirmed he had been considering calling up Callum Wilson only for the Bournemouth striker to suffer knee ligament damage last weekend, hopes to give the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli a debut over the next eight days, with Liverpool’s Danny Ings also seeking a first cap. The manager addressed Ashley Young’s prolonged absence from the national setup as well. The Manchester United winger has failed to feature since earning his 30th cap as a substitute in a 0-0 draw with Ukraine in September 2013.
“I enjoyed my time working with him in 2012,” said Hodgson. “He hasn’t featured so much for me since then and I explained, if not to him directly then through other people, that Ashley was coming up to 30 and he’s not a 100% regular at Manchester United. We do think he’s a very good player and he’s certainly as good as some of the players I’m picking. But, if I pick Ashley Young, it will be because there’s a distinct place in the team where I can see him coming into and playing every game between now and France.
“I’m not going to bring him in to be a luxury reserve, because that’s not the right thing to do to him at this stage of his career. He accepts it at Manchester United but I don’t think he needs to accept it with England too. I’m sure he’d like to play, but I don’t want to keep bringing people in and giving them a sight of a place in the team, only to disappoint them when I pick the next squad. If I bring him in, it will have to be the case that, even when we get all the players back from injury, he will be a distinct and important part of the squad. If I can’t give him that, I’d prefer to leave him out.”
