paulbefc
Player Valuation: £60m
Neither the "he's surrounded by crap players" or "we don't support him enough" make any sense as explanations as to why he is under-performing to me.
Lukaku shows that you can be heavily and unfairly criticised (easily as much as Barkley) at a young age, not let it bother you and continue to develop well as a player towards your full potential.
Lukaku also shows that being surrounded by crap players needn't stunt your development. Barkley has put in great performances on occasion while surrounded by "crap players" (apart, obviously from the top class striker he plays alongside).
The two are extremely similar in many ways. They're the same age, playing for the same team, both are internationals, they're both talented (Barkley being the more talented in my view) and both have had to deal with high expectations.
Pretty much the only big, but crucial, difference between the two is one is clearly very single-minded and driven to achieve his career goals, with complete confidence in his ability and is able to handle set-backs, constant scrutiny, criticism, high expectations and bad performances. The other apparently has literally none of these qualities. That's the fault of neither the fans nor his teammates. You cannot get to the top of the game (which is where talents like Barkley belong) without being tested at some point by the above obstacles.
Lukaku shows that you can be heavily and unfairly criticised (easily as much as Barkley) at a young age, not let it bother you and continue to develop well as a player towards your full potential.
Lukaku also shows that being surrounded by crap players needn't stunt your development. Barkley has put in great performances on occasion while surrounded by "crap players" (apart, obviously from the top class striker he plays alongside).
The two are extremely similar in many ways. They're the same age, playing for the same team, both are internationals, they're both talented (Barkley being the more talented in my view) and both have had to deal with high expectations.
Pretty much the only big, but crucial, difference between the two is one is clearly very single-minded and driven to achieve his career goals, with complete confidence in his ability and is able to handle set-backs, constant scrutiny, criticism, high expectations and bad performances. The other apparently has literally none of these qualities. That's the fault of neither the fans nor his teammates. You cannot get to the top of the game (which is where talents like Barkley belong) without being tested at some point by the above obstacles.








