Barkley had a day to forget on his return to Everton with Chelsea – with fans thriving in his failure

THE red boots will not have helped Ross Barkley on his first return to Goodison – and Toffees fans ridiculed him at every opportunity.

One shot that he skewed wide in the game probably created the biggest roar around the ground all season.

Yet he will have known he was going to get the treatment.

What was required was for him to walk the walk after he talked the talk.

Five months ago, having already left the club that raised him on bad terms, he poured petrol on the flames by declaring he had not been properly educated during all the time he came through as a Toffees prodigy.

Maurizio Sarri, he said, had made him a better player from a technical point of view.

Barkley claimed that before he left in January 2018 for £15million he “hadn’t been coached much.”

Yet that didn’t show much in what was a miserable 50th game in charge of Chelsea for Sarri.

The playmaker, 25, who started after missing the Blues’ last two games, has now gone a total of of 694 minutes of Prem football with no goals and only one assist.

True enough, he has re-established himself in Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad.

Unquestionably he plays with more discipline and a better tactical awareness than during his time at Everton especially under one of his former bosses Ronald Koeman.

And he was part of a midfield that in the first half created no less than 89 per cent possession.

Yet what made him such a great prospect over most of his 13 years of development at the Toffees was his ability to run past defenders and create.

He never did that once against his old club.

The question that has to be asked is if he really ever will live up to the hype that followed him around for so long.

He was supposed to be a box-to-box player – now he plays only in boxes and that may be as much Sarri’s fault as his.

Shortly after getting treatment for a nose injury and changing a blood – splattered shirt he was hooked and replaced by Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

As he left the pitch in the 65th minute he turned full circle in his applause.

As much as the Bridge faithful wanted him to mark his return with a flourish, there was none – just a decent, workmanlike, disciplined performance.

On a day when Eden Hazard needed some back up, when Chelsea needed an extra vital spark, there was no ignition from Barkley.

Here was his chance to prove he was right to have turned his back on his boyhood club and to prove he really had learned.

The examination failed – just like the team that lost precious ground in their bid to finish in the top four.