Former England international Gareth Barry has dusted off his boots to sign for a village football team in Sussex.
The 43-year-old midfielder, who holds the record for the most Premier League appearances, has come out of retirement and joined Hurstpierpoint for the upcoming season.
His new club officially announced the arrival of the Premier League legend today and said his ‘quality in training has been unreal’.
Hurstpierpoint play in the second division of the Mid Sussex Football League – the 11th tier of the English football pyramid.
The non-league side said on X: ‘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.’
Barry, who won the title and an FA Cup with Manchester City, made 653 appearances in the top flight.
He came through the ranks with Aston Villa where he spent 12 seasons and played 441 games, scoring 52 times.
After three years at City, he left to join Everton in 2013 before signing for West Brom where he ended his career in 2020.
His other notable achievements include a UEFA Intertoto Cup success with Villa in 2001, gaining 53 England caps and being part of the Euro 2000 and 2010 World Cup squads.
Hurstpierpoint’s chairman and first-team manager Dudley Christensen told the BBC that he’ll let Barry ‘do what he wants to do’ in terms of what position he plays.
‘He can play where he likes,’ he said.
‘But I expect he’ll sit in front of the defence and be a shield.
‘He came along to training and loved us. I don’t think he’s going to be around to play every week, but he’s a great signing and he’s going to raise our profile.’
The club said Barry is earmarked to make his debut in September, which will mark the first time he’s played competitive football at any level lower than the Championship.