'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.

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.

'This will be the first time that Barry, who represented England on 53 occasions between 2000 and 2012, has played below the Championship level.

He made his senior debut at Aston Villa in 1998, where he scored 52 goals in 441 matches before joining Manchester City in 2009.

In his second season at City, 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 won the league title.

Barry then moved to Everton, where he turned his loan spell into a permanent stay in 2014, racking up 155 appearances across five years.

He then joined West Bromwich Albion in 2017, where he was unable to help them avoid relegation in his first term, but stayed with them in the Championship for the next few years.

After deciding to retire in 2020, Barry has now returned to the beautiful game, hoping to help Hurstpierpoint improve on their sixth-placed position from last season.