Everton defender Leighton Baines has revealed that many of the Manchester City players were left shocked when they found out that Gareth Barry had completed his move away from the Etihad Stadium in order to join Everton on a season-long loan.
The former-Aston Villa star made his debut for The Toffees at the weekend and was impressive throughout their 1-0 victory over Chelsea and even made a crucial block to deny Samuel Eto’o a certain debut goal.
Baines, who was close to leaving Goodison this summer in order to join Manchester United, believes Barry will be a huge asset for the club this season and has also revealed that players at City cannot believe they have lost such a good footballer.
“I’ve known Gareth through the England set-up and I’ve always rated him really highly,” he said.
“The City lads on the last international break were saying that they can’t believe that they haven’t kept him and he doesn’t play for them.
“That says enough about his worth for any team he plays in.
“Everyone rates him who he plays with and he has come in and shown what a great asset he is going to be for us.
“We’ve seen straight away what he can give to the team.
“I’m sure Gaz will tell you that he has not played as much as he would have liked and he has already produced a performance like that.
“If he plays like that most weeks, he is going to add to the team.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
