Gareth Barry

Born in Hastings, East Sussex where he later attended William Parker Sports College. Gareth joined Aston Villa from Brighton and Hove Albion as a trainee in 1997 along with Michael Standing. The move was controversial as the Brighton board demanded £2.5 million for the two players; the Football Association's transfer tribunal 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 appearances plus sell on clause

On February 23 1998 Gareth signed his first professional contract at Villa and made his debut on 2 May 1998 against Sheffield Wednesday. Initially, he played as a central defender, on the left-hand side of a back three alongside Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu. Garteh since became a highly versatile player and captain. Starting as a centre-back, he then moved to the left-back position, then left-midfield, before establishing himself in the centre of midfield.

In 2000 Gareth was picked for the senior England side by Kevin Keegan and is, besides David Beckham, the only England international to have played under every England manager since first selected by Keegan. After the match against Slovakia in 2003 he had to endure a four-year international exile before being recalled to the England squad on February 2nd 2007. He scored his first international goal against Trinidad and Tobago on June 1st 2008, where he also captained England in the second half. He also appeared in the opening ten games of England's 2008/2009 season.

During the summer of 2008 Gareth was followed closely by Liverpool but Martin O'Neill was reluctant to let his star player go. He remained with the club and continued to made 440 appearances for Villa, scoring 52 goals in the process.

With only one year left of his contract Villa had little choice but to cash in on the long serving player and on 2 June 2009 Gareth signed a five-year contract with Manchester City for a fee of £12 million. This must have come as a shock to all Liverpool-fans who had expected their club to follow-up their bid from the previous year. But the financial situation at the Liverpool club left them in a poor position and Gareth was willing to let go with the Blues from Manchester and joined the likes of Robinho, Stephen Ireland and Shaun Wright-Phillips in the challenge for Champions League qualification.

Playing Record:

Season:	Club:	LEA	LEG	FCA	FCG	LCA	LCG	ECA	ECG	TOA	TOG
2007-2009	Aston Villa	365	41	21	3	29	4	26	4	441	52
2009-	Manchester City
Total:		365	41	21	3	29	4	26	4	441	52

LA = League Attendances. LG = League Goals.
FCA = FA Cup Attendances. FCG = FA Cup Goals.
LCA = League Cup Attendances. LCG = League Cup Goals.
ECA = European Cup Attendances. ECG = European Cup Goals.
TOA = Total Attendances. TOG = Total Goals