Stan Collymore has showered praise on Everton midfielder Gareth Barry.
Everton midfielder Gareth Barry needs only five more games to break the record of all-time leading appearances in the Premier League.
Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs currently holds the record, but Barry has a great opportunity to surpass him in the coming season.
Former Liverpool and Aston Villa player and now a popular football pundit, Stan Collymore, says that Barry is a “special breed of player”, and that he is “proud” of his old team-mate.
Everton’s Gareth Barry
Collymore argues that it is indeed a great achievement to sustain a high level of consistency for two decades, and Barry deserves all the plaudits.
Barry graduated from Aston Villa’s youth academy and made his senior debut in 1998. He played 365 Premier League matches for the Villans, scoring 41 goals.
Collymore says that Barry was an influential player for Villa, and that the club was competitive in the Premier League and in Europe when he was there.
“Gareth has held his own for two decades in a league that does not carry passengers – and certainly not for 630-plus games,” wrote Collymore for The Mirror.
“That’s a special breed of player and I’ll be so proud of my old mate if he can get those five games under his belt that will take him past Giggs’s mark of 632.
Everton’s Gareth Barry applauds the fans as he is substituted
“But he got his head down, let his talent do the talking and managed to do it with the same sort of ruthless professionalism you’d get with a Giggs, Paul Scholes, the Nevilles or David Beckham.
“He is one of those guys you very rarely notice, but he’s always there.”
Barry joined Everton in 2013 on a season long loan, and later completed a permanent move from Manchester City.
The England international has made 131 Premier League appearances for the Toffees, and has five goals to his name.
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