Liverpool mayor furious over Chelsea's £15m Barkley fee and demands FA investigation

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson has called for an FA investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ross Barkley’s transfer from Everton to Chelsea.

The England midfielder completed a switch to Stamford Bridge from the Toffees on Friday for a fee of £15 million – significantly short of the £35m that the Merseyside club rejected on the final day of the summer transfer window.

Barkley, who only had six months left to run on his deal with his boyhood club, has not played since then due to injury, and Anderson believes there is enough unusual activity in the deal to warrant scrutiny from the game’s governing body in England.

“I will be writing to the Premier League and the FA calling for investigation into the circumstances around the transfer of Ross Barkley between Everton and Chelsea,” he tweeted.

“Agent pulls transfer on deadline day of £35m doesn’t play again transfer four months later £20m.”

Barkley signed for Everton as an 11-year-old and had played all his football for the club, save brief loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds. He turned out 150 times for the Toffees in the Premier League, scoring 21 goals.

He is now contracted to Chelsea for the next five-and-a-half years.