Roberto Martinez on Everton, Barkley, Lukaku and Tom DaviesFormer Blues boss enthused by Everton's gifted young trioRoberto Martinez believes Everton will benefit from a revitalised Ross Barkley “having fun” on the field once more.
The Blues midfielder has been a player re-born in recent weeks, bouncing back from a difficult start to the season to re-establish himself as a key player in Ronald Koeman’s side.
Having looked shorn of confidence earlier in the campaign, Barkley’s turnaround was captured perfectly during Saturday’s 6-3 win over Bournemouth.
Rounding Artur Boruc to score Everton’s sixth goal in front of the Park End, the 23-year-old cheekily raised his arms in celebration prior to slotting the ball into an empty net.
Martinez, of course, is one of Barkley’s greatest supporters, having lavished him with praise during his three years as Everton manager.
And speaking on Sky’s Goals on Sunday programme, the Belgium boss said he was delighted to see the England man shining once more.
Martinez said: “With Ross Barkley, I will always be biased because I love his talent, but to see young players developing, he is ready to make things happen for the team on a consistent basis.
“He is effective when he is on the pitch when he is having fun. The quality that he has, the physicality combined with the technical ability that he has is quite unique.
“You always want the perfect footballer and you want him to defend well, but when he has a smile on his face he is a very special talent. He became very important with us.”
Martinez added: “Tom Davies has an incredible future, too. Those two combining, they are as good as you are going to get in terms of young players.”
Martinez also discussed the form and potential of Romelu Lukaku, the player he made Everton’s most expensive ever signing back in 2014.
Lukaku, his talisman with Belgium now, is the Premier League’s top scorer with 16 goals having scored four times against Bournemouth.
“That’s why we made the investment,” Martinez said. “It was time to get all the money together and not doing anything in two windows to get that calibre of player. That was at the age of 20.
“At that moment we were trying to buy the player he could be, now at 23 he is that player consistently.
“As a number nine you are not going to find a better finisher in world football. Without a doubt. The stats are there, you can compare them with the best in the game.
“The big bonus of Rom is that as a number 9 he can run in behind, he has the power and the pace, he can beat you just with force. Then he has the talent, earlier in his career he played as a winger, and he has the quality. He is not an athlete running with the ball, he is a footballer running with the ball.
“And then he is a finisher. All those elements, the variety, Rom can be anything he wants. He is still a young man. We love to build footballers up. But what you can see with Rom is that every year is getting better.
“It has been a real well planned journey. I can see a big difference with Rom in the national team.”
Liv Echo
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