There wasn't a soul on this earth that would have begrudged Gareth Barry his dream move to Merseyside last summer. With Liverpool, one of the best midfielders in the country could ply his trade at the pinnacle of club competition - the Champions League - during the peak of his career. If anything, it was Reds boss Rafa Benitez who was under all the scrutiny, with most fans stroking his goatee in wonder at why he would bother replacing - and that is exactly what he had planned to do - the quite obviously superior Xabi Alonso. Especially as he never stood to make any profit. Now, just to prove that, after a week-long hiatus, the Fail isn't targeting City for the second time in as many editions, for them, this is a great deal. For those in a Kaka-induced coma who missed the news last night, City now have Barry in their ranks for a cool £12m and however they choose to use him within their midfield, he is likely to be one of their most crucial and consistent performers. The problem lies with a man who stood with his expressionless face and told Aston Villa fans who had supported him throughout his one-club career that he had to leave for Champions League football. He has left Villa Park, where they will be hosting Europa League football next term, for the City of Manchester Stadium, where they will be hosting Burnley. Not only has he not gone into the Champions League, he's gone out of Europe altogether. His belief - or his excuse, whichever way you look at it - is that he feared going stale in some kind of comfort zone, and that he has joined a club with the right ambition. Is that to suggest Villa have the wrong ambition? Maybe it's to suggest City have greater means to fulfill their ambition. Maybe, at 28, he should have realised it's not a great idea to take a step back in order to get a running start forward when your legs are only going to get worse. Manager extraordinare Mark Hughes himself has admitted that Europa League qualification is a realistic target for next season. So by the time he's 29, he'll be back where he was at 27. Then, into his 30s, he may at some point get to the Promised Land he has been seeking out all this time. By then, if City continue to grow, he's only getting older and they're trying to compete at the highest level, will he even be in their starting line-up? Probably not. Alternatively, he could have held out for Liverpool, who would have inevitably come chasing his way as Real Madrid converge on Anfield to swoop for Xabi Alonso. He may have even waited for Mr. Wenger to come knocking in search of some midfield experience. Man City have played this perfectly. For good money, they get a great player who will steer them through their transition period from mid-table mediocrity to almost inevitable Champions League football. Gareth Barry, on the other hand, gets to spend the remainder of his prime reliving the last three or four years of his career in a different colour shirt.
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