![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ross-Barkley-Chris-Wilder-1140x641.jpg\")
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(Credit: Imago)<\/p>\n
![\"Pete](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/pete-orourke-close-up-150x150.jpg\")
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Thu 15 January 2026 8:47, UK <\/p>\n
Sheffield United have registered their interested in signing Aston Villa midfielder Ross Barkley, sources have told Football Insider.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Championship club are keen to take the former Everton<\/a> and Chelsea<\/a> star on loan to bolster their squad in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n It is an ambitious move from Chris Wilder<\/a>\u2018s team given Barkley<\/a> is a high earner at Villa Park, but the Blades are hopeful they could work out a deal.<\/p>\n The 32-year-old\u2019s current contract at Aston Villa<\/a> is set to expire in June, although the club retain the option to extend his deal by one year.<\/p>\n Barkley has fallen out of favour under Unai Emery<\/a> this season and has not started a single game across all competitions, playing a total of 153 minutes.<\/p>\n The midfielder has been sidelined with a knee injury picked up in their win against Wolves<\/a> at the start of December, but is expected to return shortly after the window closes.<\/p>\n As a result, Sheffield United<\/a> are keen to take a gamble on his fitness as they continue with ambitious plans to improve Wilder\u2019s squad this month.<\/p>\n MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n The Blades currently sit 16th in the Championship after a nightmare start to the season, but remain just nine points shy of the playoff places.<\/p>\n There is a growing belief that getting the right deals over the line in January will give Wilder enough to mount a serious challenge for a top-six finish.<\/p>\n Sheffield United lead race to sign Joe Rothwell<\/p>\n Barkley is not the only midfielder on the Blades\u2019 radar this month, with the position seen as a priority should the right options become available.<\/p>\n Football Insider<\/strong> revealed on 12 January that Sheffield United want to sign Rangers\u2019 Joe Rothwell<\/a>, and are leading multiple rivals in the race for his signature.<\/p>\n This comes after Football Insider\u00a0<\/strong>revealed last month that\u00a0Rothwell was being eyed by numerous Championship sides<\/a>\u00a0ahead of the January window.<\/p>\n The 31-year-old has fallen out of favour under Danny Rohl and has been left out of the squad entirely since the end of November.<\/p>\n Rothwell joined Rangers from Bournemouth<\/a>\u00a0on a three-year deal in July after he had helped Leeds to the Championship title last season.<\/p>\n For more Sheffield United and exclusive news, follow us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or join our brand new\u00a0WhatsApp Channel<\/a>\u00a0for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Imago) Thu 15 January 2026 8:47, UK Sheffield United have registered their interested in signing Aston Villa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[102,748,393,4884,4237,1620,4239,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-697319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-aston-villa","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-ross-barkley","13":"tag-sheffield","14":"tag-sheffield-united","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115898359992758121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Ross-Barkley-2-1024x576.png\")
Credit: ImagoRoss Barkley could leave Aston Villa for Sheffield United<\/p>\n![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Joe-Rothwell-Rangers-1024x576.jpg\")
Credit: Imago<\/p>\n