Everton hero Kevin Kilbane has been discussing Ross Barkley's emergence this season.
He wrote in the Daily Mail: "Lee Carsley, my former Everton and Ireland team-mate was the first person who mentioned Ross Barkley to me. We'd left the club by then, but the staff around the first team, who ex-players keep in touch with, are always up to speed with any players making particularly good progress in the Academy.
"And there have been a few - James Vaughan, who became the youngest goalscorer in the Barclays Premier League, Francis Jeffers, Michael Ball, Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert, Richard Dunne. I remember Victor Anichebe coming into first team training at 18, this big, strong young lad who bullied the likes of Alan Stubbs in matches.
"Barkley is a totally different player to Wayne, but he is in that category of having outstanding, immediately eye-catching potential and talent and he is the latest outstanding Evertonian to come out of their Finch Farm base. He has had a fantastic first full season for one so young, he is a leading contender for young player of the season and in the running to be on the England's plane to Brazil."
