Have the last five years just been erased from people's minds?
Barkley was massively overrated - which is what Evertonians seem genetically predisposed to do with any "talent" that comes through the ranks (see John Ebbrell, "Grantona", Michael Branch, Danny Cadamarteri, and Anthony Gordon). The only Everton product that ever justified the hype was the incomparable Wayne Rooney, so our hype hit rate is quite poor.
I said it long before Barkley left the club that he was massively hyped and that would not stand scrutiny over his career. He simply didn't have the football intelligence required. Sure enough, he stank out his last year or so with us and his subsequent "peak" years at Chelsea and Aston Villa have been disastrous when compared to the "expectation" so many naive people - or just plain bad judges of football, to give them their correct title - put on his shoulders.
In summary, Ross is now a very rich man. He has been successful by any objective measurement. But, by the same token, he has wasted his best years as a productive on-pitch active footballer, contributing almost nothing to his employers while watching what might have been a long England career go up in smoke. Another one in the long line whose ambition far exceeded his actual effectiveness.