Ross Barkley did not go to Tanzania. He has not gone to Holland and Belgium. If preseason is preparation for the campaign to come, perhaps it will come to seem an accurate precursor of the year he could endure; he may be destined for a watching brief, perhaps from afar.
A groin problem was the official reason for Barkley's omission from Everton's tour parties. But with a contract unsigned, a future shrouded in mystery and a manager who had threatened to freeze him out unless he committed to the club, the injury seems ill-timed.
He is sidelined at a time when his place in the side seems under assault from all angles.