Everton’s Barkley earns approval from Koeman

Ross Barkley may have had a difficult start under Ronald Koeman at Everton but appears to have now earned his new manager’s approval.

The England midfielder, who didn’t play a single minute at Euro 2016, was brought off at half-time against Sunderland last month with Koeman demanding improvements from the 22-year-old.

And on Sunday Barkley shone against West Ham to grab his third goal of the season, and first since a 4-0 EFL Cup win over Yeovil Town in August.

The midfielder’s goal helped the Merseyside club to a 2-0 win over the Hammers and was a high point of his campaign to date according to the Dutch manager.

(Photo by Chris Brunskill/Getty Images)

“It was one of his best performances of the season. He was working hard, he was tackling and offensively he was important in the game,” said Koeman.

“He had some shots on target, Adrian made an incredible save from him in the first half, he scored the second goal, he was the link between the back and the front in creating and that’s the play we want to see from our midfield.

“That’s what you need to do and then, normally, these kinds of players, with the individual qualities that they have, they make the difference.”