NICE fans have been swooning over “elegant” Ross Barkley after the ex-Chelsea man’s debut on Sunday.
The 28-year-old midfielder came off the bench in his new side’s 1-0 win at Ajaccio.
Barkley made a shock free transfer to Nice earlier this month after being released from his Chelsea contract.
And some wondered what role he would take after new boss Lucien Favre admitted he did not know the position Barkley played.
But that didn’t stop the attacking midfielder from climbing off the bench to record an impressive debut.
Barkley came on for Nice’s goalscorer Andy Delort with 20 minutes left.
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And he imposed himself quickly with some good touches and confident runs.
After the game, Nice tweeted fans asking for their opinion on Barkley’s first game.
And the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one simply beaming: “Elegant.”
Another said: “He brought a lot of movement and solutions. An English mentality will do us good.”
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One tweeted: “This creative midfielder is the one we’ve been waiting for.”
Another added: “Let’s hope he’s the midfielder we’re missing and regains his levels. I thought he made a very good entrance.”
Before kick-off, Barkley broke his silence on his move after seeing Aaron Ramsey, Kasper Schmeichel and Nicolas Pepe join Nice before him.
Barkley said: “Nice is an ambitious club. President Rivere and Dave Brailsford explained to me the club’s project for growth over several years.
“Jim Ratcliffe also convinced me to come here and help the team progress.
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“What also convinced me to come was the coach. He is a great European coach, who plays attacking football.
“I was able to see him in his teams in Switzerland or Germany, I saw the way his teams played and that is something that guided my choice a lot.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
