Enigma code

It was in October 2010 that Rio Ferdinand wrote an open letter in support of England’s ultimately doomed World Cup bid.

- Simon Hart

In it, he name-checked the players whom England fans might see on the global stage in 2018: “We’ve got some talented youngsters, the likes of Josh McEachran, Ross Barkley, Ezekiel Fryers and John Bostock…”

Ferdinand’s words show the danger of predicting any young footballer’s path, with two of that number now playing second-tier football and Bostock moving from Lens to Bursapor in January. Barkley, newly signed by Chelsea after 179 Everton appearances and 22 England caps, is the exception, yet even he finds question marks pursuing him as he begins a new chapter in London.

The first questions concern the transfer itself, given that the player, also coveted by Tottenham Hotspur, had initially chosen not to join Chelsea when backing out of a £35 million deal last summer. Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, called for a police investigation into “whether any fraud has taken place” when Barkley ended up at Stamford Bridge after all – this time for £15m, with Chelsea agreeing to pay agent fees of around £7m.