Gareth Barry Fan Site

Will he or won't he?

Gareth has been at the centre of intense speculation regarding his future at club level. Liverpool have allegedly bid around £15m for his services, but this has been denied by Aston Villa. Villa's valuation is believed to be closer to £18m.
 
It appears that GB's arrival will be at the expense of Xabi Alonso, who may be on his way to Juventus. Is this a good move for Liverpool?
 
 
 
 
About Gareth Barry
 
Gareth Barry (born February 23, 1981 in Hastings) is an English football player who currently is the captain of English Premier League side Aston Villa.
Along with former team-mate Gareth Southgate, the pair were the only players to play in both the final club match (excepting 2000 Charity Shield match) and the final international match at the old Wembley Stadium. Both matches resulted in 1–0 losses: for Aston Villa against Chelsea in the 2000 FA Cup Final and for England against Germany in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
 
 
Contents
 
1 Club career
2 International career
3 Statistics
4 Honours
4.1 Aston Villa:
4.2 Other:
5 References
6 External links
 
 
Club career
 
Gareth Barry attended William Parker sports college in Hastings at the same time as Sussex cricketer Michael Yardy. An ex-England under-18 captain, Barry joined Aston Villa from Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. as a trainee in 1997 along with Michael Standing, who was considered at the time to be a much bigger talent than Barry. The move was controversial as the Brighton board demanded on £2.5 million for the two players, the FA transfer tribunial panel came up with a deal which would have seen Brighton make £2.4 million in the event of Barry and Standing making an England apperances plus sell on clauses. He played his first match for Villa on May 2, 1998 against Sheffield Wednesday. Initially, he played as a central defender, on the left-hand side of a back three including Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu. Barry has since become a highly versatile player. Starting as a centre-back, he then moved to the left-back position, where he excelled for several years. Later, Barry settled into a left-midfield role, but, most recently, he has switched to the centre of midfield.
 
In April 2005, Barry intervened in a controversial incident against Newcastle United when two Newcastle United players, Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer, brawled with one another during the game.
 
In November 2007, it was reported that Aston Villa were set to award Barry a testimonial, at the age of just 26, to recognize his 10 years at the club. On 5 April 2008, Barry helped to break a run of bad-form, scoring in a 4–0 victory over Bolton. He scored 2 goals (his first two from open play that season) and he was also credited with 2 assists.
 
Barry is approaching 400 total appearances for Aston Villa, and as of April 2008, was the longest serving player in the team. During the league game against Bolton Wanderers on 28 October 2007, Barry became the youngest player to appear in 300 Premiership games (aged 26 years 247 days), replacing former record-holder Frank Lampard.
 
In May 2008, Liverpool expressed an interest in Barry and offered up to £10 million, though the Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill said that Barry was worth more than Liverpool offered. Liverpool then made further bids for Barry, with a £13 million bid reported on 12 June 2008, which was rejected. Two days earlier, Barry's agent Alex Black announced on a Radio station that Barry "had plans to play Champions League football" next season. On 29 June 2008, Barry criticised O'Neill for making no attempt to keep him at Villa Park. He said: "I haven't spoken to Martin for the last three weeks." and re-iterated his desire to join Liverpool. O'Neill responded, stating that he and club owner Randy Lerner gave the player numerous options and incentives to continue playing for the club. The Transfer saga took another twist on July 2nd 2008, when Aston Villa officially disciplined Barry, by telling him not to report back for pre season training along with his fellow team mates, which could only increase the chances of him making his desired move to Anfield. 
 
 

International career   Barry made his England under-21 début against the Czech Republic in 1998. He made 27 starts for the Under-21 side, a record since surpassed by fellow Aston Villa players, on-loan Scott Carson and former colleague James Milner.    First picked for the senior England side by Kevin Keegan, along with David Beckham he is the only other England international to date to have played under every England manager since first selected by Keegan. After an injury to Jason Wilcox, he was able to travel to Euro 2000, but did not feature in any of the side's games. Barry made his England début as a substitute in a pre-Euro 2000 friendly against Ukraine on May 31, 2000. His full international début was in the 1-1 draw against France on September 2, 2000.    He made further England appearances in matches against South Africa, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovakia in 2003.   Barry was recalled to the England squad following a four-year international exile on 2 February 2007. Barry was resigned to never winning another cap under previous boss Sven-Göran Eriksson but Steve McClaren brought him back for the first time since March 2003. Barry was brought on at the beginning of the second half of the friendly match against Spain on 7 February 2007 as replacement for Steven Gerrard and played left midfield for the majority of the game, moving to left-back when Stewart Downing was brought on. England lost 1-0 thanks to a second half Andres Iniesta goal. On May 25, 2007 Barry played for England B in a 3-1 victory over Albania, getting an assist for England B's first goal scored by Alan Smith. Barry renewed his England international career by coming on as a substitute, replacing Michael Carrick in a friendly against Germany, at Wembley. As confirmed by John Motson during the BBC Commentary for this game, Gareth Barry has now played under 5 different England Managers (including England U21 & England B-Team)    As a replacement for the injured Owen Hargreaves, Barry started in central midfield for England against Israel on 8 September 2007; with two assists and impressive overall play. He kept his place with Owen Hargreaves declared unfit for the match against Russia on 12 September 2007, and produced another stunning display, proving to be more than competent at international level. BBC Presenters Ian Wright and Alan Shearer commented that Gareth Barry was immense in the centre of midfield alongside Gerrard, forming a wonderful partnership together, and further commented that he should have been given man of the match overall for the two performances against Israel and Russia.   He was also given the official man of the match for England's Euro 2008 home qualifier against Estonia. He was selected to start against Switzerland on 6 February 2008, the first game of the Capello era. He was again selected to start in England's friendly away to France on 26 March 2008. Barry scored his first international goal against Trinidad and Tobago on June 1, 2008, this completed a personal treble for Gareth as he also captained England in the second half of his 20th cap.