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Everton midfielder Ross Barkley turned down the opportunity to join Chelsea on transfer deadline day despite Chelsea and Everton agreeing a fee for the 23-year-old midfielder.

According to Joey Barton, Barkley turned down the move to Chelsea because he wasn’t certain about how Antonio Conte intends to use him and Conte couldn’t be reached on deadline day as his phone was switched off.

“I heard a really interesting thing about what happened with the Ross Barkley transfer. Conte turned his phone off and Barkley’s representatives were trying to contact him,” Barton told talkSPORT.

“He wanted to say ‘look, where am I going to play’, and Conte turned his phone off. That is why Barkley got cold feet and never signed.

“He thought, ‘well, if the manager isn’t answering the phone to me he clearly doesn’t want me’, and that is why he went back to Everton.”