Everton transfer priority clear despite Jamie Carragher's Ross Barkley suggestion
Socks around his ankles, Ross Barkley shared a hug with Jordan Pickford and turned to the Everton supporters and clapped.
For 90 minutes the former Blue had tried to pull apart his former club. He came close - firing at Pickford with a rasping effort from the edge of the box in the final minutes, heading over from one of Alfie Doughty’s dangerous crosses and coming inches from slipping Elijah Adebayo behind James Tarkowsk ias Luton Town pushed for a winner they could not find.
But the man with more ‘noise’ around him than any other on the pitch at Kenilworth Road could not quite create a moment to split the teams. On the TV, Jamie Carragher wondered whether the 30-year-old could end up at Everton again - a cry that would have been denounced back when then-Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson was so incensed by his controversial switch to Chelsea that he contacted the police.
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How Barkley would fit into a Sean Dyche side is unclear - there are plenty of good reasons the perennial claims of a reunion have not materialised over recent summers when the England international has been available for free. The likelihood is no such return follows this summer either. But until his future is decided, expect a chorus of debate online and across living rooms and pub floors over the possibility.
There was a sense that this game could end up about Barkley. With the Blues safe after that hat-trick of superb wins last week it was one of few obvious talking points, something recognised in Bedfordshire too - it was no coincidence he was the player who adorned the front
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