To Rafael Benitez and countless others, the answer is
simple: "Money, money, money. The transfer was 100 per cent about
money."
The charge of greed is one that City, and all associated with
them, cannot escape. Carlos Tevez, persuaded to swap red for blue
in Manchester, John Terry, his head apparently turned by the riches
on offer at Eastlands, and Barry, delaying his dream of playing in
the Champions League for at least one more season, all stand
accused of measuring bank balance above trophy cabinet.
Barry, of course, is adamant his new club do not represent a
sinecure, little more than a sky blue pension plan. It is easy to
scoff, at least until the subject turns to the tortuous saga of
last summer's abortive move to Liverpool.
The disappointment still rankles. In a year when he thought he
would be winning over the Kop, Barry instead had to win back the
Holte End. His move was not about wages. City offered him what he
wanted, simply because they wanted him.
"I found Rafa Benitez's comments a bit disrespectful," Barry
said. "By that stage my decision was made and people should move
on. There was genuine interest from Liverpool and I think he's
probably just upset I chose City.
"I've been in the Premier League for 10 years, more, and the
money I've been paid is phenomenal compared to your average,
everyday working man. You live and work away from normal life
anyway, so money's not a big factor.
"The difference was that City made me feel wanted. Liverpool had
a chance to buy me last season but failed to pay the money, and
only found it this year when they knew someone else had reached an
agreement.
"There was a feeling of being let down. Excuses were made about
things going on behind the scenes and in the boardroom, but I came
out of it looking like a bad person. It took a long time for me to
get back into the squad at Villa afterwards. It was tough to deal
with.
"That's why there's nothing better than a club making you feel
wanted and getting a deal done in days. It's not about money, it's
about the chance to be part of something big from the very
beginning at a club who really want you."
Speaking in the opulence of Abu Dhabi's seven-star Emirates
Palace hotel – as a guest of City's new sponsors, Etihad Airways –
Barry knows he is an easy target. But his new club's plans for
global expansion are proof enough for the England international
that he is where he should be.
"Most people would snap your arm off to do what I've done, but
for me to be able to say my career was successful I need to have
some trophies and some medals in my cabinet when I finish," Barry
said.
That would be achieved quicker if he was joined at Eastlands by
Terry. Hughes "looked me in the eye when I signed and said he was
confident of getting players like that, and in quantity", Barry
admits, "and that they've even gone for him shows City mean
business".
Such a coup would surely cast off the image of City as the
foolish, naive nouveaux riches, established in those regrettable
few days, in the immediate aftermath of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al
Nahyan's takeover, when Sulaiman Al-Fahim, quickly dismissed, spoke
of £134 million bids for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Hughes is clearly working to a plan. Barry has been taken from
the bosom of Aston Villa, most likely City's strongest competitors
to break the Big Four cartel, and from the fingertips of Liverpool.
Tevez's arrival hurt Manchester United, the departures of Terry and
Adebayor may yet damage Arsenal and Chelsea. Hughes is
systematically weakening his opposition.
"Taking their best players hinders them and strengthens us,"
admits Barry, "but it's not about signing the very best players,
it's about gelling them together."
The spending spree must excite, though? "When Tevez has just
trained for the first time and you turn on the TV and suddenly
Adebayor's in talks, you think: 'They're not messing about, are
they?' Even for a player, you wonder what's going to happen
next."
