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Revision as of 15:17, 4 April 2006
Gareth Barry (born February 23, 1981 in Hastings, England) is an English footballer and midfielder for Aston Villa F.C..
An ex-England under-18 captain, he joined Aston Villa from Brighton and Hove Albion F.C. as a trainee in 1997, and played his first match for the team on May 2, 1998 against Arsenal F.C.. Initially he played as a central defender, on the left-hand side of a back three including Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu. He continued to push through the ranks, and made his England under-21 debut against the Czech Republic in 1998. He made 27 starts for the Under-21 side, a record shared with Jamie Carragher
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. His full international debut was in the 1-1 draw against France in September 2000.
However, after falling out of favour with Aston Villa boss John Gregory, he requested a transfer and soon entered the reserve team. It was only after Gregory's exit from the club that Barry excelled, under the aegis of Graham Taylor. He continued to perform well into the 2002/03 season, in an otherwise uninspiring season for his team.
It wasn't until an injury to Liverpool F.C.'s Danny Murphy that he was given a chance to perform for England, however, as he had a starring role in matches against South Africa, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovakia in the close-season. However it is surprising that he hasn't played a role for England since especially with the lack of any left sided mid-field players in the regular squad.
Barry has now played 300 times for Aston Villa. He now regularly plays on the left-hand side of midfield, although he is still frustratingly classed as a defender by most sources.
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