Date: 25th January 2012 at 2:49pm
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One of Rafa Benitez’s biggest mistakes whilst he was still manager of Liverpool was trying to sign Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry at the expense of losing Xabi Alonso. Benitez had this fantasy of Gerrard and Barry in midfield for Liverpool but his dreams never came through. And instead he never got the chance to sign Barry and at the same time lost Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.

Gareth Barry opted to join Manchester City ahead of Liverpool and the midfielder has revealed why.

“I remember when the transfer saga was going on, I was watching a Liverpool friendly [against Lazio at Anfield] and the home fans were singing, ‘you can stick your Gareth Barry up you’re a***’,” Barry said in the Daily Telegraph.

“I was at home, but I could just hear it vaguely. That might have got into my head a little bit.

“Liverpool were still interested when I decided to join City. I thought about it really hard, but the things the club were talking about, I felt City were on the up, whereas Liverpool were maybe finding it a bit tougher than City.

“It wasn’t an easy decision. I was signing on promises being made really and, in football, promises get made all the time.

“They can backfire and people can end up saying they made the wrong decision. But sitting here now, I think it has been a very good decision.

“Four years on, people say to me that I’ve made the right decision joining City. Obviously Liverpool is a fantastic club with a great following but I won the FA Cup last year and I’ve played in the Champions League this season.”

I am sure Barry is laughing at us now as he has seen where we stand and where Manchester City are: challenging for the title. There is nothing more I would love than for Liverpool to knock Manchester City out of the Carling cup tonight (Wednesday) and show Gareth Barry that we are still a much bigger club than Manchester City could every dream of.

It is a shame to the game of football that the power of money has taken over. We saw Real Madrid do it first by buying all the best players in the world and building them in one team. Chelsea also did that in the past and they won some titles now with the money at Manchester City, they are close to buying their way to the title. But then again, that is just how football is these days, it is about the club with the most money being successful.

I look at our situation at Liverpool: we got in new owners who were not afraid to spend money. They bank rolled Kenny Dalglish’s shopping spree for new players and it is fair enough to say that some of his signings have not worked out. Now is there more money for Kenny to spend or was that it? Is he going to have to make do with the players he has or will we see another huge outlay of players come the summer?

 

10 responses to “Midfielder reveals why he did not join Liverpool”

  1. PR says:

    “There is nothing more I would love than for Liverpool to knock Manchester City out of the Carling cup tonight (Wednesday) and show Gareth Barry that we are still a much bigger club than Manchester City could every dream of.”

    What?? So Crystal Palace are bigger than Manchester United, and Cardiff bigger still?

    It’s the League Cup, you delusional.

    • Philip says:

      Yeah, it’s carling cup, and yet, arsenal , man city, and chelsea came out in their (almost) strongest XI…

      • Swiss T says:

        What’s your point about their (almost strongest 11’s?)

        City were missing Silva, Balotelli, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure & Kompany from the first leg and not by choice

    • Stevie h says:

      Well said pr knocking them out of a meaningless cup dosnt make us a bigger club. FFs Bham city beat arsenal in final last year does that make them bigger than arsenal?!! Shows how far we have fallen in the 70s and 80s we would take the mick out of this trophy as we had bigger fish to fry. Man city would obviously like to get thru tonight but don’t think they will lose too much sleep if they don’t as winning league is top priority for them. This trophy is more imp for us to win which I find embarrassing.

  2. Akash@Superstarfc says:

    barry is not a good player… bye bey barry…

  3. Jabezclegg says:

    Like Liverpool havent bought players, Torres, Carroll etc they just wasted their opportunities more, Barry made the right decision and perhaps it will spur him on more tonight, this tie is not over and the semis never come alive untill the second leg…..

  4. Swiss T says:

    If you look through LFC’s history, they were one of the first clubs to “buy the league” – The only difference is inflation – Top clubs have always spent the most money in comparison.

  5. Brodie says:

    I admit I wanted Barry to join Liverpool back when he was being linked with us. He’s a good player to have on a team but at the time we were intrested, he wasn’t what we needed. Letting Alonso go was the beginning of Liverpool’s slight performance nose dive. To try and find a player who’s passing was spot on everytime, is hard to come across these days unless you’re willing to pay over 40mil for them. YNWA

  6. Stevie h says:

    I think rafa was influenced by gerrard who wanted his mate Barry to come probably more than rafa. Thou Barry is underrated he links play well and does the simple things right. There’s a lot to be said about that and he is a million times better than Adams. He would have been a good assert for us and complimented gerrard well.

  7. Chessie says:

    Yes they want to win the league which they might not win, thats were this cup competition will come handy to them.