When we had to put up with the on/off Gareth Barry transfer saga all last season, one of the key facts throughout the drama was that Barry wanted to play Champions League football. It was a purely football based decision to want to leave Aston Villa, though the fact that his best mate Steven Gerrard was at Anfield would certainly have increased the pull to Liverpool. Ultimately though, Liverpool couldn’t get the money together and Barry stayed at Villa Park.

So imagine my surprise when I heard Manchester City had put in a £12 million bid today which was accepted and Barry has announced that he’s joined them. So I checked the league table again, saw Manchester City were still tenth and hadn’t even qualified for Europe. Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that all Gareth Barry cares about is money. What a hypocrite, proving once again that some footballers talk utter rubbish when they want to move.

How is moving from Aston Villa a better footballing move? It smacks purely of lining his pocket over any “footballing reasons” Barry can offer as an excuse. He’s apparently excited about the prospect of what City can achieve next season, but honestly, are they even going to brush the top 7 never mind the top 4? Villa fans must be utterly perplexed by Barry’s decision to leave them for a less successful club. By all means, they didn’t want him to leave but they’d understand if he went to Liverpool or Arsenal, hell even Spurs as he’s fan of Tottenham but Manchester City?

Barry has simply shown that he’s got an ego the size of an elephant by joining a side that are going to pay him £80,000 a week and guarantee him a starting place. The only motivations here are greed and ego stroking for poor little Gareth Barry, clearly underpaid and not loved at Aston Villa obviously. The Holte End will be scratching their collective heads over this transfer that simply doesn’t make logical sense after his whining all last summer that almost topped the Ronaldo saga for sheer boredom.

City fans will be delighted to have captured his signing, but the warning signs are there for the type of player that Hughes will be attracting to Eastlands now. Money talks, but when a player turns down Champions League football for an extra 20 grand a week, you finally see the real man hiding behind the facade that the fans are presented with. With a decision like this, Barry has made himself look rather stupid and only interested in money. With Newcastle now leaving the market for overpaid mercenaries, it seems like Manchester City can fill the gap.

If, and it’s highly unlikely that they will, City qualify for the Champions League, then of course we can all hold our hands up and say Gareth Barry is obviously psychic. The reality is that it’s doubtful that they will crack it within 3 years never mind the next 12 months, it’s just a decision that I find frankly astounding. I’ve nothing against Manchester City, if anything, through friends who support them, I’ve always had a soft spot for them but even the most optimistic fan has to question if they can sign any of the top 50 players in the world over this summer.

Don’t bore me with tales of Robinho being one of the world’s best, he clearly isn’t anywhere near the level of Ronaldo, Rooney, Messi, Eto’o, Ribery etc etc. He is only motivated by money, nothing more, nothing less and earns thousands to not play top level European football. Barry is the same, by turning his back on European football to count his cash and he was hardly struggling on the £52,000 a week, plus a new offer of £65,000, he was on at Villa, he’s shown that common sense and trophies mean nothing to players whose ego is all that matters when cash is involved.

Barry’s mantra all through last summer was about wanting to play Champions League football and win trophies, but it turned out to be a hollow statement. At least he’ll have lots of money to make up for the lack of trophies he’ll have when he retires.