I didn't want to leave Man City - but one phone call made it clear I wasn't wanted
Of all the players who characterised Manchester City's journey from newly-minted mid-table side to genuine title challengers, you gravitate towards Vincent Kompany, or Joe Hart, or Sergio Aguero.
You probably have to think back a little to name Gareth Barry, an all-time record Premier League appearance holder but perennially overlooked. He was always there without being the star man. And when City came to the next step when Manuel Pellegrini came in, Barry was quickly surplus to requirements.
From starting City's successful 2011 FA Cup final, and the last day of the 2012 Premier League season, Barry was told at the end of the 2012/13 season - in which he made 41 appearances - that he was no longer in City's plans.
READ MORE: Signing for Man City was a dream move but two years later I was telling people not to do it
Two things happened for City to come to that conclusion for a player who played more than 130 games in four seasons. First, Roberto Mancini left the Etihad with Pellegrini his successor. And second, City spent £30m on a relatively-unknown Brazilian midfielder from Shakhtar Donetsk by the name of Fernandinho.
Before the new season had even started, Barry's agent received a call from City's Director of Football Txiki Begiristain, who showed there was no room for sentiment as City looked to build on their FA Cup and Premier League title wins of recent seasons.
“He phoned my agent and said that regular football would not be guaranteed next season,” Barry said at the time. “That was the first button that was pushed. I was keen to meet the new manager and try and impress him.
"I wasn’t going to just roll over and move without the manager seeing me day-to-day and watching me closely. But as it’s gone on, it’s clear that it was time to move."
Barry stuck to his guns, vowing to prove City wrong and let Pellegrini make the final call. But despite being a part of first team training, it quickly became obvious the manager wasn't going to go against his new employers.
“I wasn't pushed out at all," he said. "But when the squads were announced, I wasn’t travelling for friendlies, and so the writing’s on the wall when that happens. If you want to be playing regular first-team football, then it’s time to move.
“I just don’t think I’d have been a happy person, sitting there not playing. Even in the first pre-season game, I didn’t travel to play Arsenal in Finland, and I was sitting at home feeling grumpy.
“Once the Premier League started and I was sat at home watching Sky and Match of the Day, knowing I wasn’t involved, I wasn’t a happy person.
“I’ve seen players that are sitting round, not playing and picking up their wages. You can make a joke of it sometimes and say it’s an easy life, but generally those people aren’t living a happy life. They’re not playing football, not doing what they always wanted to do.
“You get into a different routine. You go into training knowing that no matter what you do, how hard you train, it isn’t going to affect the manager’s decision."
So Barry decided to leave. But he had to wait to the dying embers of transfer deadline day to seal a loan move to Everton. And wary of the Sky Sports News hype outside every training ground, he had to strategically drive around Merseyside to be ready for the green light without tipping off the media. He certainly wasn't going to create his own Peter Odemwingie moment.
“That’s why I didn’t go too close to the training ground! You learn from things like that," Barry recalled. “I was sat at home around 7 o’clock, then I got a call to get in my car and come over this way because the deal is close.
“Then, the next thing, I’m sitting in my car being told it’s not done, so I can’t make the full journey into the training ground because not everything has been agreed. Then I got the call to say that it had been agreed and I was on my way again.
“I was with Mike [Standing, his agent], who was driving around wasting his petrol. We stopped off for a coffee, but we weren’t too far away when the call came. Just out of sight of the cameras, thankfully!
“You’re speaking to people, your agent is speaking to people, and they’re trying to stay positive. But when you’re sat in your car at 10 o’clock, you’re thinking ‘there’s not much time here’.
"You start to think ‘I’m going to have to go training with Manchester City tomorrow’, so it can be difficult. You’re trying to get your head round two different possibilities.
“When do you start panicking? It probably is around half ten. It just seems strange that you have three months to get these deals done, and the majority of them go through in that last hour.”
The deal did go through, and Barry made his move permanent after being released by City at the end of the season. He totalled another 130 appearances in his spell at Goodison Park and that took him past 600 Premier League games. He broke the all-time record while at West Brom in the final stop of his career.
He risked the wrath of Aston Villa fans to sign for City, but justified the transfer with his winners' medals. He also holds no bad feelings against City for how it ended.
"I'm grateful for four fantastic years at Manchester City," he said at the time. "I went there to try to win trophies and I was lucky enough to win a couple. I have only good things to say about the club."
“Looking back now I couldn’t have made a better decision," Barry admitted a few years later. "I had a great four years at City and wish I could have had a couple more.”
