Fantasy Football Potential – Gareth Barry

West Brom have signed Gareth Barry from Premier League rival, Everton, for an undisclosed fee. The 36 year old joins the Baggies in search of regular first team football, after finding himself out of favour last season due to the signings of Gueye and Schneiderlin. That said, he still managed to play in 33 of the Toffee’s Premier League games.

The veteran has had a fantastic Premier League career, featuring in 628 Premier League games, meaning he is second on the list of most appearances, just behind Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs. As long as Barry gets a decent amount of game time at West Brom he will eclipse the Welshman’s record.

Here’s what Tony Pulis had to say:

“There was a big void when we lost ‘Fletch’ and Gareth will fill that void. He’s a fantastic player and I think his attitude towards playing is really gauged by the fact that Everton had offered him a two-year contract to stay there. He really wants to play and I’m really looking forward to working with him.”

Fantasy Football Potential

Being a defensive midfielder, Gareth Barry isn’t exactly a great choice in terms of FPL. He has scored over 50 Premier League goals, but the majority of that came earlier in his career with Aston Villa. In the last 8 seasons Barry has scored just 11 goals.

However, the experienced midfielder is priced at just 4.5m on FPL, which could make him a viable option as a 5th midfielder. His ownership is 2.0%, but I don’t expect that to rise significantly as I believe people will not waste their free transfer in bringing in Barry, especially because as he currently has an ankle injury, meaning he may not feature this weekend.

West Brom’s next five fixtures are as follows; Burnley (A), Stoke (H), Brighton (A), West Ham (H) and Arsenal (A). Aside from the obvious difficult game at the Emirates, the Baggies upcoming fixtures are very favourable, meaning Barry becomes a more tempting option.

If you have enjoyed this view of the fantasy potential of those moving teams this transfer window, be sure to check the others here.

Written by Harry Clark (@HarryClark67)

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