Ronald Koeman to decide Ross Barkley future in Everton board meeting on Monday after Arsenal defeat

The contract stand-off between Koeman and the England midfielder will be discussed that day after Everton ended their season in defeat

Ross Barkley's Everton future will be decided on Monday (Getty)

Ronald Koeman revealed that he will speak to the Everton board on Monday to make a decision on Ross Barkley’s contract, with the midfielder left out of the starting line-up in the 3-1 defeat by Arsenal on the final day of the Premier League season.

A feisty end-of-season match saw the Arsenal captain, Laurent Koscielny, shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Enner Valencia, ruling him out of the FA Cup final against Chelsea next weekend, while Alexis Sanchez and Gabriel Paulista were both taken off with injury – the latter looking to be a serious knee problem.

Everton started the match terribly, with Tom Davies notably off the pace, and having initially preferred Kevin Mirallas, Davies and Valencia to support striker Romelu Lukaku, Koeman hauled Davies off in the 25th minute.

Barkley is stalling on a contract offer from the club, with Everton manager Koeman speaking very publicly about his reluctance to be held to ransom by the England midfielder, and he confirmed after the Emirates Stadium clash that a decision will be made on Monday to decide what the future holds for 23-year-old Barkley.

“I will speak to the board tomorrow and we will make a statement about that,” Koeman said on Barkley’s situation”.

Asked if he believes that Barkley will eventually extend his deal with his childhood club, Koeman simply answered: “I don’t know, I don’t know.”