Manchester City new boy Gareth Barry under fire from Aston Villa fans
Lion: Barry has been great for us true but its all about confidence, as other players and the press like him, but he is slow and despite being club captain for a time he is not that motivational as can be seen when villa have struggled, that is why we have missed Laursen, consequently I think he has been quite lucky, he can easily be replaced, for instance Sebastian Kehl of Borussia Dortmund, a fantastic left footed midfielder, calm, quicker and with great vision.
Ianthome: According to the Man City website, this is a 5 year contract, so even more lucrative for him. I hope he and his money will be very happy together.
Harry:I'm not surprised that he is going but I am astounded that he is going to Man City. So much for wanting CL football! No European football next season and its anyone's guess whether they can get it for the following season.
Having said that I think its probably a good deal as £12m is a full price for a player with only a year to go on his contract so thats good news for Villa. To be fair to Barry he has given Villa unstinting and more recently outstanding service so its not unreasonable that he wants to have a go elsewhere. Clearly none of the big four were interested and I can't believe this deal was agreed without his agent putting in a call to Benitez so its one in the eye for Stevie G.
Overall I'm sad to see him go but I think there are two important plus points that we should not lose sight of. Firstly it removes this unsettling 'will he, won't he' situation as that must make any squad development difficult. Secondly it was clear in the back end of the season that our central midfield was not working properly so this should be the first stage of a reorganisation in that area.
As for the move from Barry's prespective its high risk. Fickle owners and a less than secure manager, no CL football and the risk of being dumped in favour of a galacticos. Man City make two sorts of signing, the ones that Mark Hughes wants (like Barry and Bridge) and the ones the owners want (Robiniho and Kaka if it had come off).
