Bengaluru, September 5: English midfielder Joey Barton has offered an interesting thought into why Everton midfielder Ross Barkley's proposed move to Chelsea on transfer deadline day fell through.

The English midfielder who is now suspended because of a betting issue has stated that Barkley purportedly declined to sign for Chelsea in light of the fact that he couldn't address Blues manager Antonio Conte on deadline day as the Italian had his telephone turned off.

Everton had reportedly accepted an offer for the 23-year-old before the midfielder made a trip to London to finalise the deal and was set for a medical in the final hours of the window.

However, it was later reported that the England international declined the move and opted to remain at Merseyside for the time being at least till January.

Later Barkley dismissed the reports on his social media account claiming that all these rumours are nonsense as he never went for a medical to Chelsea's Cobham training ground.

However, Barton has now added a new dimension in the transfer as he suggested that the deal was scrapped because Blues boss Conte's phone was off and Barkley's agent could not reach him in proper time to negotiate the final terms.

"I heard a really interesting thing about what happened with the Ross Barkley transfer," the Burnley midfielder told talkSPORT. "Conte turned his phone off and Barkley's representatives were trying to contact him.

"He wanted to say: 'Look, where am I going to play', and Conte turned his phone off. That is why Barkley got cold feet and never signed. He thought: 'Well, if the manager isn't answering the phone to me he clearly doesn’t want me', and that is why he went back to Everton."

Barkley is currently recovering from a hamstring injury and is not expected to be available until the end of the year. His current Everton deal expires at the end of the 2017-18 campaign and both Chelsea and Tottenham are expected to resume their attempts to sign Barkley in the winter window.