That’s the opinion of former West Ham striker Dean Ashton.
News broke last night that Barkley’s proposed £35m move to Chelsea had broken down with the player choosing to snub Antonio Conte.
But Ashton thinks it will have been the Blues who decided against buying the England international due to his current injury.
“I think the medical probably was going ahead,” he said on Sky Sports.
“They’ve looked at the injury he’s got and they’ve said it’s probably going to be late November (until he’s fit).
“It could be as simple as saying ‘let’s leave it for now. If we can buy you for less in January, that gives you more wages’.
“I’d be happy with that if I was Ross. You know you’re not going to play until Christmas properly. It makes no difference really.
“I can’t going all the way down to London, agreeing medical terms, maybe to start a medical, I can’t imagine you suddenly think ‘no, I don’t fancy this’.
“I can’t see that, I think something’s changed, either between the medical or between the price, the wages.”
Chelsea added Davide Zappacosta and Danny Drinkwater to their squad on deadline day.
That’s after they had already done deals for Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Willy Caballero and Alvaro Morata this summer.
