The Continuing Story Of Bareth Garry (Part 5 – Will he? Won’t he?)

By: Martini Extra Dry | July 29th, 2008

For the last few months, the Gareth Barry question hasn’t been ‘Will he or won’t he go?’ but more ‘When will he go?’. Now, after Saturday’s appearance for Villa against Odense BK, people are suddenly starting to entertain the possibility of him still being an Aston Villa player next season.

It was always a possibility that he could stay, but no-one was giving the notion a second thought before Saturday’s game, when he came on for the injured Wilfred Bouma. Barry filled in at left back, the position he used to play in for Villa only a few years back. Barry was excellent in the game, proving to anyone who was doubting it, that he is worth every penny that Martin O’Neill is asking for for him.

Unlike the game earlier in the same week, at Walsall, Barry was welcomed very warmly by the Villa fans on Saturday and there can be no doubt in his mind now that the Villa faithful want him to stay on and captain us for another year. Will that be enough for him to want to stay?

No? Well, what about the huge pay rise Randy Lerner is apparently offering? Making him earn between £62,000 and £75,000 per week, depending on which paper you read. What about the guaranteed first team action and captaincy? What about the opportunity to be a lead figure in the team?

Other than the money, he won’t get any of that at Liverpool. On a team that includes Steven Gerrard he won’t get to play that attacking central midfield role that he does for us. On a team with Gerrard, Torres, Keane, (the list goes on) he won’t be the ‘hero’ figure. On a team with Gerrard, Alonso etc he isn’t even guaranteed to get a regular place in midfield. But Liverpool have just sold Riise, so he could even end up deputising at left back if any injuries were sustained.

So other than cup glory and wonga, it sounds better to me to stay at Villa. But then, I would say that wouldn’t I?