Former Aston Villa, Everton, Man City and West Brom star drops 10 divisions to seal football return

Former Aston Villa and West Brom midfielder Gareth Barry is back playing football as he comes out of retirement.

Barry, now 43, has signed with Hurstpierpoint FC, who play in the Mid Sussex Football League Championship. A majority of his career was spent in the Premier League, bar two seasons with the Baggies in the Championship, and now he's playing in the 12 tier of English football.

A post shared on Twitter which has him holding up a Hurstpierpoint shirt was shared by the club on Monday (July 22) morning, and read: "We are beyond delighted to announce that former-England international and all-time Premier League record appearance holder, Gareth Barry, has signed for Hurstpierpoint Football Club.

"Gareth has a long-standing association with the village through his good friend, and our Coach, Michael Standing; so it seemed an obvious move to get him involved with the football club.

"His quality in training has been unreal, so we’re all very excited to see him pull on the shirt and grace the Fairfield turf later on this season.

"Welcome to Hurstpierpoint, Gareth."

Barry had a 22-year playing career which began in 1998 and finished in 2020. He came through the academy of Aston Villa after joining from Brighton & Hove Albion as a trainee. He made 441 appearances for the Villains, scoring 52 goals with one of the highlights being an Intertoto Cup win in 2001.

He was sold to Manchester City in June 2009 for a reported £12m, and was able to achieve a dream of playing in the Premier League. Barry had four seasons as a player at the Etihad, appearing 175 for the Citizens as he won a Premier League title and an FA Cup.

Everton signed him on loan in the 2013/14 season, and he later moved to Goodison Park permanently on a free transfer. Barry ended up playing 155 times for the Toffees, and departed in 2018 for an undisclosed fee.

West Brom signed Barry, and it was during his time at the Hawthorns, that he eclipsed Ryan Giggs' record to become the Premier League's all time appearance maker. He has 653 appearances to date, but James Milner is still an active player for Brighton and is only 19 games behind.

Barry made 61 appearances for the Baggies, joining when the club was in the Premier League in 2017, but they were relegated and then he spent two seasons in the Championship. His career finished with him making six appearances for WBA in the 2019/20 season, with his last game of professional football being a 3-2 defeat to Newcastle United in an FA Cup fifth round tie.