Ross Barkley has not improved or kicked on since bursting into the Everton first-team as a teenager, his former Toffees team-mate Leon Osman has insisted.
Barkley, now 23, made his Everton debut as a 17-year-old in 2011 and has appeared for the club 176 times in total, but has often been criticised for not fulfilling the potential he promised in his early years.
Former Everton midfielder Osman has added his voice to those claims, insisting Barkley is not playing like a footballer with five-years experience in the top flight.
'I don't like to put him down but he's been playing in the first team now since he was 17 or 18 and that's along time to have been playing in the Premier League and not to have kicked on and made that next step,' Osman said on BBC Radio 5 Live.