the times | Friday August 28 2020 2GM 69
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apology saying he was desperate to join
a club with whom he could win major
trophies.
Again, this seems an antiquated sort
of narrative given that even Lionel
Messi, having won four Champions
League titles with Barcelona, can still
yearn to leave the Nou Camp, where he
has featured for even more years than
Barry spent at Villa Park, to win a fifth
European title, and that can be viewed
as a legitimate ambition.
Maybe that is what sums up Barry —
he belonged in a no man’s land of gritty,
determined, week-in, week-out devo-
tion allied to skill, vision and ambition.
We may not realise it now, but we will
miss him.The Saturday 3pm TV blackout will be
lifted when the new season starts, mak-
ing it almost certain that all Premier
League games will be available to Brit-
ish viewers until the return of fans.
The FA’s confirmation will allow the
Premier League to change its position
and make matches available from the
start of the season on September 12.
The Premier League’s initial stance
had been that the original Sky and BT
Sport contracts would be followed,
meaning that 40 per cent of games
would not be available live on TV, but
leading top-flight clubs are worried
that would push fans to watch the
games via illegal streams while sta-
diums remain empty or partially empty.
One big obstacle was the Saturday
3pm blackout but the FA has confirmed
that it will remain lifted until crowds
come back to matches, and potentially
Wolverhampton Wanderers are
considering a bid for Unai Núñez, the
Athletic Bilbao centre back. Núñez, 23,
has a €30 million (about £27 million) re-
lease clause in his contract, which ex-
pires in 2023. The ball-playing defender
earnt his first international cap 12
months ago in Spain’s 4-0 win against
the Faroe Islands.
Tottenham Hotspur hope to
complete the signing of Matt Doherty
from Wolves. The right wing back, 28,
has scored eight goals in the past two
seasons. Brentford have agreed to sign
Ivan Toney from Peterborough United
for up to £10 million, which could pave
a way for Ollie Watkins — wanted by
Aston Villa, Leeds United and Fulham
— to leave. Toney, 24, has scored 40
league goals in the past two seasons.
Valencia are in talks to sign Watford
midfielder Étienne Capoue.Gareth Barry has retired aged 39 and
we will probably not see his like again.
The defensive midfielder has the chis-
elled good looks of a 1930s matinee
idol and the longevity of the local
devoted postie.
He is a player we all took for
granted and yet who dominated
our lives. He appeared so often —
a record 653 times in the
Premier League — that he
was part of the division’s
furniture. His career
lasted 23 years in
which time he scored
67 goals and was cau-
tioned 119 times.
The incident that
sums him up best was
the curious occasion
when Diego Costa was
deemed to have bitten
him on the neck during an
FA Cup quarter-final between
Everton and Chelsea four years
ago. The furore was all about the
manner in which the Chelsea
striker clamped his jaw around
Barry’s neck and was then sent off.
There was much subsequent
debate about how Costa, now at
Atletico Madrid, had a red-hot
temper but was beloved by the
fans. Would he be so effective an
attacker without his rebel-
lious streak? And yet Barry
was also sent off in that cup
Barry, a player
we all took
for granted,
will be missed
tie. No one questioned the midfielder’s
character, however, even though it was
his second red card of the campaign
and he had been sent off when facing
Chelsea the previous season.
Barry had a way of being booked that
made it look like it was a legitimate part
of being a team player. He was cau-
tioned so often that it was almost bor-
ing. It was certainly run of the mill.
He did, though, amass 53 caps for his
country and was even given the cap-
taincy for a friendly against Egypt. He
was, overall, more popular with
England fans than with England
managers even though his brand
of commitment and desire to pass
to more gifted colleagues is a valu-
able commodity.
It is also a little old-
fashioned that such a long
career was spent at only
four teams, and it was
when at Manchester
City that he won the FA
Cup and the Premier
League the following
season in 2012.
And to think that
Aston Villa had
wanted to give him a
testimonial after ten
years at the club when
he was not yet quite halfway
through his top-flight career.
By the end of his playing days
Barry made 832 senior club ap-
pearances — 441 for Villa, 175 with
Manchester City, 155 for Everton and
61 at West Bromwich Albion.
Only one club paid any
money for him. City signed him
from Villa in 2009 for £12 mil-
lion and the Villa supporters
were angry at a perceived
lack of loyalty leading
him to write an openChelsea snap up Sarr and
close in on Thiago Silva
Window Watch
Gary Jacob, Paul HirstBoost for fans as 3pm blackout lifted
only be reimposed when stadiums can
be full again. Televising all games
means clubs can give season ticket-
holders access codes to watch the
matches via the subscription platforms
if they cannot get into the games,
as happened during Project
Restart, when all fixtures
were behind closed doors.
The blackout was
brought in when league
matches were first tele-
vised live in the 1980s
aimed at maintaining
crowds going to games
on Saturday afternoons. It
was lifted in April because of
the coronavirus crisis, forcing
matches to be played behind closed
doors.
Premier League club chairmen are
meeting on Thursday next week before
the start of the new season, when they
are expected to make a decision on
televising all the matches.The broadcasters are already making
preparations to expand their coverage
but will not be asked to make games
available free to air as happened during
Project Restart when Sky made a third
of matches available without
viewers having to pay a sub-
scription.
All matches in the
Championship, League
One and League Two
will be available for fans
to watch while matches
are behind closed doors,
either on Sky or
streamed via iFollow.
The Football Supporters’
Association has called for the
Premier League to follow suit, with
its chief executive Kevin Miles pointing
that if it does not then “the only people
who can’t legally watch those games
live are the citizens of North Korea,
Saudi Arabia — and law-abiding fans of
Premier League clubs in the UK”.Martyn Ziegler
Chief Sports Reporter
Thiago Silva has passed his medical
and is expected to complete a free
transfer to Chelsea from Paris Saint-
Germain. In addition to the 35-year-old
Brazil centre back, Chelsea have signed
Malang Sarr on a free transfer from
Nice but the central defender, 21, will
move on loan to a club in Spain or
Germany. Tiémoué Bakayoko is close
to joining AC Milan on loan.
Mikel Arteta said he is “pretty confi-
dent” that Pierre-Emerick Aubamey-
ang will sign a new contract with
Arsenal. The forward, 31, has one year
left on his present deal. Héctor Bellerín
looks increasingly likely to leave and
has interest from Juventus, while Arte-
ta’s hopes of re-signing Dani Ceballos
have been dampened by Real Madrid.The midfielder’s career
in English football
may not be matched
for staying power,
writes Alyson Rudd
40
The percentage of
games that would not
have been on live TV
under the original
agreements with
Sky and BTDubravka set to miss first
six weeks of season
Newcastle United will be without
Martin Dubravka, their first-choice
goalkeeper and player of the year, for
the first six weeks of the new season
(Martin Hardy writes).
The 31-year-old Slovak has not
missed a Premier League game since
he joined in January 2018 from Sparta
Prague but has damaged his heel. He
will be replaced by Karl Darlow when
the season begins.
His loss comes with growing injury
concerns for manager Steve Bruce.
Andy Carroll, 31, is the only fit centre
forward in pre-season training.Gareth BarryRyan Giggs
Frank Lampard
David James
James Milner
Gary Speed
Emile HeskeyMark Schwarzer
Jamie Carragher
Phil NevilleMost games in Premier League653
632
609
572
538
535516
514
508505CHRIS MCGRATH/GETTY IMAGES
Barry, pictured
with the Asia
Trophy, won
the Premier
League and FA
Cup with City
after 12 years
with Villa, insettrip to Dubai. The situation also poses a
threat to the Community Shield match
between Arsenal and Liverpool
tomorrow. Arsenal are understood to
have a group of players in isolation,
either quarantining or because of
positive tests. It is believed that at least
two other England players who do not
play for Chelsea have contracted the
virus in recent weeks.
Maguire told BBC Sport’s Dan Roan
that when Greek police arrested him in
Mykonos he feared for his life as he
thought he was being kidnapped. He
said plain-clothed police officers, who
did not identify themselves, pulled over
his group’s minibus, threw him off the
bus, hit him in his legs and told him his
career was over.
“I thought we were getting kid-
napped,” the Manchester United cap-
tain said. “We got down on our knees
and put our hands in the air and then
they just started hitting us. They were
hitting my legs saying my career was
over. I don’t feel like I owe an apology to
anyone. An apology is something when
you have done something wrong.”continued from back
Virus threatens England squadHarry Maguire speaks
for the first time since
his arrest in Greece,
saying he feared for
his life and he
doesn’t need
to apologise
inside today
News,
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