City Move Threatens To Stall Barry Returns

Gareth Barry’s £12 million move to City has already given us something to think about. With Liverpool and Spurs in the hat, this was perhaps a surprise decision by the Villa man but let’s not dwell on the motives behind the transfer (cough…huge wages) and instead focus on what it could mean from a fantasy perspective for the coming season.

City undoubtedly have themselves a fine player who will have a significant impact on their performances and results. Having adopted a central midfield role for Villa, he seems likely step in alongside De Jong at Eastlands, allowing Hughes to consider deploying Kompany in central defence. That’s the first factor to look for should you be considering a City defender. Secondly, we have to question just how Barry’s fantasy output will be affected by his new surroundings….

He notched 5 goals and 8 assists this season, in addition to a blossoming 35 bonus points in the Fantasy Premier League game. This compares to 9 goals and 10 assists last term and 8 goals and 4 assists in 2006/07. Barry has been a consistent fantasy performer then, without quite threatening to break into “holy trinity” territory. Can he maintain these kind of returns at City? There appears to be major question marks.

Barry’s returns has been reliant on his contribution from set plays. More significantly he has been Villa’s regular penalty taker. While Hughes did pick out Barry’s ability to deliver a deadball on completing the signing, it’s highly questionable whether he’ll be handed spot-kick duties at City while Elano and Robinho remain in the frame.

So what profits can we expect from open play? When Villa were at their best, Barry was seen bombing forward from central midfield in support of the striker(s). At City, that role is surely reserved for the impish Ireland, while Robinho, Elano and Wright-Phillips will also be factors, given their attacking instincts and ability to come inside to threaten goal. This will likely impact on Barry’s returns from open play, which may well be restricted to a regular stream of assists from a deeper position, in the Fabregas/Alonso style, rather than a double figure goal return. Looking at Barry’s impressive FPL bonus haul, that will also surely take a hit given the wealth of potential headline grabbers he’ll be sharing the pitch with.

Much depends on City’s future signings and Hughes chosen formation of course. Barry will likely be ever-present with personnel changing around him and that personnel will undoubtedly be boosted by further new signings this summer as Hughes attempts to take City on the verge of the top four. Even at this early stage though, Barry’s fantasy potential appears to be stifled somewhat. While he’ll likely spend most of next season in central midfield, Hughes did hint that he saw Barry as a flexible player who could adapt to various positions. Having settled into a role at Villa then, there’s every chance that the versatile Barry of old could rear it’s head. He’ll keep contributing heavy points in games such as the Guardian which draw from defensive as well as attacking statistics but in games reliant on assists and particularly goals, it seems unlikely we’ll see the kind of return that will justify a likely increase in price.

Finally, it’s worth touching on where this leaves Villa. We’re in a world of cloudy speculation here, with O’Neill set to spend the Barry funds on a replacement – David Bentley is already being mentioned. Even so, the most significant factor to consider at this point, is that Villa have lost their penalty taker. That role is likely to fall to Ashley Young (if he remains at Villa) or even James Milner next term and that’s clearly something that we need to keep an eye on once the pre-season campaign’s kick-off.