City slicker Barry the latest star to face the wrath of his former Villa fans

05 October 2009 00:51
First Emmanuel Adebayor, then Carlos Tevez. Now it is Gareth Barry's turn to face his old supporters and accusations that he joined Manchester City for the money. City's trip to Aston Villa is Barry's first game back at the place where he spent more than a decade before surprising many by joining City on a £90,000-a-week deal in the summer. Not least because the England midfielder was still being strongly linked with Liverpool after a year-long transfer saga that was founded on Barry's desire to play Champions League football. That option is not yet available at City and Villa fans will no doubt remind Barry of the fact, just as Arsenal and Manchester United supporters have been less than understanding towards Adebayor and Tevez in the past month. But Mark Hughes believes Villa fans should thank Barry. The City manager said: 'The service he gave to Aston Villa was exemplary and instead of trying to take issue with players, maybe they should thank them for what they did for the club. I'm not saying it will happen because it very rarely happens. 'Whenever players move clubs there is a financial deal - that's a given. It's no different here, but that's not the main reason players are coming to City. Nice to see you again: Barry's teammate Emmanuel Adebayor had a controversial reunion with his former colleagues last month 'They come here because they know there are good players here already and, in the future, there's the possibility that even better players will come.' Barry was City's first signing of the summer in a £12million deal and Hughes believes it sent out a message that helped him convince others like Adebayor, Tevez, Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott that the club were more than an oil-rich circus. City skipper Richard Dunne moved in the opposite direction, joining Villa for £6m on deadline day, and claimed he was stabbed in the back. But Hughes reiterated his stance on the row, saying: 'If Richard wanted to stay he could have stayed. Nobody put the pen in his hand.'

Source: Daily_Mail