The Mail joins the silliness over Everton’s Ross Barkley

Sorry about this, but for the third Sunday in a row we’re going to have deal with another epically untrue Ross Barkley rumour.

Two weeks ago it was The People linking him to Manchester United, last week it was The Mirror claiming he was off to Chelsea, and this week The Mail have just joined those stories together – added in Manchester City and an extra £10m – and reprinted it.

What do all of those articles have in common? None of them contain any quotations, or any credible theory other than ‘he’s really a bit good, so City, United and Chelsea would probably want him’.

The Mail’s effort is just as bad as everything that has come before, the article riddled with rhetoric about bids being ‘prepared’, Barkley having ‘more potential than Wayne Rooney’, and the obvious 1+1 that supports all of this – Everton’s financial situation.

Truthfully, there will probably be a day when Barkley does leave Everton – and it may well be for one of the bigger clubs. But at the moment, there’s absolutely nothing to support that happening. This kind of reporting is infuriating, because it’s circumstantial guessing – it belongs on gossip websites, not in national newspapers.

Come on, write some more toss about Fabio Capello and his plot to destroy English football – we all know that’s what you really want to be doing.