Time for Ross Barkley to 'move out of his comfort zone', says Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard has urged Everton midfielder Ross Barkley to "move out of his comfort zone" and move to a club where he can fulfill his talent.

The 23-year-old has been subject of transfer speculation throughout the summer after refusing to sign a new deal at Goodison Park, as Everton manager Ronald Koeman said last month that the England international was certain to leave Merseyside.

Speaking to football.london, Lampard said a move away from Goodison Park, where Barkley has spent his whole career, would help the midfielder's development, which appears to have stalled over the last 18 months.

"Looking at it from the outside, he's 23 now and he's always had pockets of games where he's done well and we talk about him," the former West Ham, Chelsea and Manchester City man said.

"His England career has done a bit of that as well because he's never done that throughout a season, so maybe a change would be good for him.

"At some stage sometimes, I did it as a young lad at West Ham, you have to try and go out of your comfort zone and try something else. Everton fans might not want to hear that, but everybody moves on."

Chelsea and Tottenham are understood to be leading the chase for Barkley but while Koeman is willing to let him go, Everton's £50m price-tag appears to have put off any potential suitors and on Thursday (10 August) the former Southampton manager confirmed the club was yet to receive a bid for the midfielder.

"If there's no interest he will be part of team," the Everton manager said. "He is training with Everton, he is part of the team and training in a good way."

Lampard, however, believes Barkley, who has scored 21 Premier League goals in 150 appearances for the Toffees since making his debut six years ago, will have to choose his next destination carefully.

"I like Ross and he's got so much talent," said the 39-year-old, who is now part of BT Sport's commentary team. While it does look like he's going to leave now, he does need to go to a club where he can fulfill that talent."

Lampard found himself in a similar situation when, in 2001, he left West Ham to move across London to Chelsea. Despite being just 22 at the time, Lampard went on to quickly establish himself as a pivotal figure for the Blues, winning 11 major trophies during a 13-year spell at Stamford Bridge.

"It's all there, but he probably just needs to get a bit more out of himself. He's at a young age and it seems that he wants to move," Chelsea's record goalscorer added.

"If he comes to a team like Chelsea or Tottenham, the players around him will help him improve because he'll see what it takes to go to the next level.

"Ross has the potential and he needs to go to the next level, he needs to look at the likes of Hazard and Willian and try and do the things they do. That's not just have the potential, but to create and score goals regularly."