It was a big surprise when Joey Barton left Burnley this summer for Rangers after getting the Clarets to the Premier League. He was a pivotal player in Burnley winning the Championship last time around to get an immediate promotion back to the Premier League. In fact, the controversial English midfielder was Burnley’s Player of the Year last time!
Since Rangers had terminated the contract of the 34-year-old midfielder, he is training with his former club Burnley to keep himself in shape and recently, Burnley manager Sean Dyche has hinted that he could wrap up the midfielder’s signing in January. It will be a dramatic turn of events if this deal takes place in January. Let us take a look at the pros and cons of this move.
Pros
Well, despite Barton’s career being always subdued by the controversies he has been amidst over the years, you have to admit that he is a quality player. The 34-year-old possesses an invaluable amount of experience in English football that can be a blessing for a side like Burnley. The Clarets find themselves 13th in the table after 13 games with 14 points but it is too soon to say that they will be safe by the end of the season. An experienced player like Barton might change the equation.
Burnley do not have a deep squad at all. They are short of options in the middle of the park, especially. Steven Defour, Dean Marney and Jeff Hendrick are the only three attacking midfielders they have right now and an injury to either can stretch their resources.
Burnley should add a new central midfielder to their books in January and Barton seems to be a very good option. He still has a lot to answer at the big stage and especially after being showed the exit door by Rangers and Burnley might not regret giving him that opportunity.
Cons
Signing a player like Barton always comes with a big risk. You never know what trouble he might cause to throw the morale of the squad into an abyss. Throughout his career, Barton has never been outside controversies. On top of that, he is 34 now and might not be good enough for the Premier League wear and tear. However, the Englishman will be available for free and he knows Dyche closely as well as most of his teammates. So, that decreases the risk factor to some extent.
