It was the news that all Evertonians didn’t want to hear but it has been confirmed by everyone but the club that Ross Barkley is injured and will miss the start of the Premier League season.

Off the pitch things had been going great this summer, contract extensions for the manager and players including Ross himself, record breaking signings as well as excellent young prospects secured but this injury is a massive blow to the Blues.

Ross has become one of Everton’s most influential performers under Roberto Martinez and was looking to kick on after his inclusion in the England squad for this summer’s World Cup. Barkley himself was excited to pull on the Blue shirt again and do what he loves to do more than anything else and that is play for Everton Football Club, however, he will now have to wait a bit longer to do that this season.

Losing Barkley at this late stage will certainly be a blow to Martinez but the Spaniard is always positive about every situation and will see this as an opportunity for someone else to prove their worth to the side. He may also see it as a chance for Ross to catch his breath after an amazing 12 months that not only seen him cement his place in the Everton side but become an England regular.

The problem is of course it is not easy to replace Ross Barkley and we  have no genuine ‘like for like’ player with Kevin Mirallas being the only real player who can carry the ball the way Ross does, however the squad does have players who can fit into Martinez’s system and that will important.

Roberto may choose to hand a debut to Muhamed Besic and ask him to float about behind Romelu Lukaku, or he could opt to play Steven Naismith in the role that he excelled in last season just off Lukaku. There are also options such as Leon Osman, Aiden McGeady, Steven Pienaar or new signing Christian Atsu who could all do that role also.

In the past I would have been totally down now but not under this fella, he always has a plan and is always looking at new things and ideas. Roberto will have revised his plan and will have confidence in whoever is chosen to fill the gap left by Barkley and that for me gives me the confidence that despite a big blow like losing Ross, Everton can still prosper.

At Leicester, we will be backed by 3,500 mad and vociferous Evertonians and they will shout and sing the team to perform, them and Bobby’s positive words give me the belief that we will be just fine this season no matter what is thrown at us.

Roberto will probably dip into the market again before the window shuts and make us even stronger so that when Ross returns everything is in place for him to drive us on to greater things. Trust in Bobby to get it just right and it will be all the sweeter when he does ! Let’s stick together and enjoy watching our boys perform this season !!

COYB

Baz