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Chelsea have completed the £15m signing of Ross Barkley from Everton.
The 24-year-old England international has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract and will wear the number eight shirt for the Blues.
“I’m overwhelmed. I’m looking forward to it and I’m really excited to get started,” he told Chelsea’s website.
‘To be given a fresh start at a new club like Chelsea, it’s unbelievable for me.
“I’m looking forward to continuing where I left off at the end of last season and hoping to improve and add more goals to my game.”
Barkley, who has been at Everton for 13 years, has not played for seven months because of a hamstring injury. He had surgery in August.
Antonio Conte has said Chelsea will need to show “great patience” with Barkley given his recent injury.
Speaking ahead of Barkley finalising his move, boss Conte said Chelsea had seen Barkley’s contract situation at Everton, where his deal was due to expire this summer, as a “good opportunity” to snap him up.
“He’s very young and I think he has a lot of space for improvement. He is very strong physically and has good technique,” Conte added.
“It’s a good prospect, but at the same time it will be very important to understand when he can recover from injury, because don’t forget he had a bad injury and hasn’t been playing for seven months.”
Chelsea agreed a deal to sign Barkley during the summer but the move fell through at the last minute.
They have since planned to target him again during this month’s transfer window.
This post was last modified on 05/01/2018