With Thursday’s closure of the summer transfer window, West Bromwich Albion didn’t fare too badly on the final day given the four arrivals we saw, and on Friday morning head coach Slaven Bilic confirmed that our dealings weren’t actually done, as we still planned on offering former England international Gareth Barry a new deal with him now almost at the end of his recovery period following the knee surgery he underwent at the end of the 2018/19 campaign.
Speaking to wba.co.uk, West Brom fans already knew he had remained with us for rehabilitation purposes and the expectation was a new deal would be offered, and Bilic simply confirmed that.
“Barry is doing very well now and is out there running again and on the way back to fitness. It is our plan to sign him again when he has done that. He is a very valuable figure and his experience is important. We have many new players to the Club and young players who have not much experience and it is important that you are able to have experienced players available to help them when the going gets tough. Barry is one of those players.”
The 38-year-old can definitely still play a part for us even if nobody expects him to now be an ever present and whilst I’d imagine it will only be a 12 month deal, there’s no harm in reassessing that next summer if he proves he can do a job for us, as his experience in the dressing room alone is probably worth a reduced wage.
Yes!!!!
— Safiya Outlines (@SafiyaOutlines) August 9, 2019
After all of the signings we have made, I’m quite happy with this!! Welcome back Gareth!!
— Gemma Downes (@gemmadowneswba) August 9, 2019
He might not play every game but I think he is an important influence for the kids.
— ???????? Spencer ???????? (@SSWBAfan) August 9, 2019
Great news! Player coach for me, be great to have around the young players, so much experience to teach
— DaZ_GuEsT (@DarrenGuest7) August 9, 2019
No brainer if fit imo
— Stuart Hunt (@huntywbafc) August 9, 2019
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