Premier League legend Gareth Barry comes out of retirement aged 43 four years after calling time on career
Gareth Barry has made a U-turn on his retirement decision to join non-league outfit Hurstpierpoint at the age of 43.
The Premier League legend, who won the trophy with Manchester City in 2012, hung up his boots four years ago after his three-year stint at West Brom.
But Barry, who made a record 653 appearances in the Premier League, has now come out of retirement to join the 11th-tier outfit.
Hurstpierpoint shared the news on X, where the ex-England international proudly posed with the club shirt.
A statement read: "We are beyond delighted to announce that former-England international and all-time Premier League record appearance holder, Gareth Barry, has signed for Hurstpierpoint Football Club.
"Gareth has a long-standing association with the village through his good friend, and our Coach, Michael Standing; so it seemed an obvious move to get him involved with the football club.
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"His quality in training has been unreal, so we’re all very excited to see him pull on the shirt and grace the Fairfield turf later on this season.
"Welcome to Hurstpierpoint, Gareth."
Hurstpierpoint currently ply their trade in the Championship division of the Mid Sussex League.
It will be the first time that Barry, who represented the Three Lions on 53 occasions between 2000-2012, has played below the Championship.
For the first 20 years of his playing career, Barry had competed in the Premier League.
He made his senior debut at Aston Villa in 1998, where he scored 52 goals in 441 matches before linking up with the Citizens in 2009.
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And in his second season at the Etihad, he helped the club end their 35-year trophy drought by winning the FA Cup.
The following campaign, he featured in 34 top-flight appearances as Roberto Mancini's men pipped rivals Manchester United to the league title.
Everton was the next destination for Barry, who turned his loan spell into a permanent stay in 2014 - racking up 155 appearances across his five years.
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And he then linked up with West Brom in 2017, where he was unable to help them beat relegation in his opening term, before staying with them in the Championship for the next years.
But after deciding to call time on his lengthy career in 2020, Barry has returned to the beautiful game, where he will be hoping to help Hurstpierpoint to improve on their sixth-placed position from last season.