Arsenal linked with surprise move for Gareth Barry

The Daily Star are today linking Arsenal with a move for Manchester City’s Gareth Barry. The England international has one year left on his deal at City and at the age of 32, they could well be willing to move him on for a fee this summer, rather than lose him for nothing next year.

City have offered him a new deal at the club on lower wages, but Barry is worried that he will not play as much under new manager Manuel Pellegrini according to the report.

Arsenal are reportedly keen on signing Barry and are willing to offer him a deal worth £75,000 a week to join the club.

I think that Barry would have been a great signing 4 years ago when he left Aston Villa, but he is 33 in February and wouldn’t offer us anything that we don’t already have in midfield. He’d be a good squad player to have around, but he may as well stay at City if he’s just going to be a squad player here.

I think we’ve got a younger  and better player (slightly younger) than Barry in Mikel Arteta and there would be no point bringing Barry in on high wages to warm the bench for a year or two. This was the problem we’ve had over the last couple of years with the Arshavin’s, Chamakh’s and Squillaci’s sitting on the bench but earning ridiculous money in wages.

Gareth Barry is the latest name to make the long list of Arsenal transfer ‘targets’. Pic: Daily Mirror.