Ross Barkley: 10 facts about Everton's wonder-boy

Barkley is emerging as Everton and England’s wonderboy

1. Barkley was born on 5th December 1993 in Wavertree, Liverpool.

2. Joined Everton as an 11-year-old and progressed through their youth systems.

3. Barkley was expected to make his Toffees debut in the early stages of the 2010-2011 season but was delayed after he sustained a serious leg injury after a collision with Liverpool’s Andre Wisdom while on duty with the England Under-19′s.

4. The youngster finally made his debut in the 2011-2012 season in Everton’s first game of the season against Queens Park Rangers where they suffered a 1-0 defeat. He signed a four and a half year contract with Everton in the same season.

5. Barkely has gone out on loan to Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday, where he scored 4 goals in just 13 appearances.

6. Barkley returned to Everton for the 2013-2014 season and scored his first goal for the Merseyside club in a 2-2 draw against Norwich City where he was named Man of the Match. The 20-year-old also picked up the award in the match against Arsenal.

7. The Scouser recently scored a sublime winning goal against Swansea City and collected the Man of the Match award, his third of the season so far, for his performance against the Welsh club.

8. Barkley received his first call up to the England Under-21 squad in August 2011 and has scored 1 goal in 5 appearances for the team.

9. Barkley was called up to the senior England squad in August this year and made his debut at Wembey when he came on as a substitute for Jack Wilshere in the World Cup qualifying game against Moldova which the Three Lions won 4-0.

10. The midfielder has been praised by a number of football greats including Michael Owen and Gary Lineker and has been compared to Everton great Paul Gascoigne.