Former Newcastle United and Manchester City midfielder, Joey Barton has ended his ban period with professional football and is set to make a return for the 2018/19 season. Bookmakers have placed Aston Villa with the best odds of signing the 35-year-old along with Notts County and Cardiff City.
Barton was initially handed an 18-month suspension in April 2017 after breaking rules in terms of match betting. He was playing for Burnley at the time and was later released by the club.
His ban got reduced to 13 months last July and teams are lining up for his signature.
While Steve Bruce might have the better prospects of Premier League promotion, Notts County currently employs Kevin Nolan as their head coach, Barton’s former teammate and close friend. Derby County, Cardiff City also have glowing prospects of top-flight football next season and this could play a hand in Barton’s decision.
If you are a Premier League spectator in the last decade, at some point you will have heard of Joey Barton. Not short of controversy or the media spotlight, Barton is a picture of a suburban bad boy who finds it really hard to play by the rules.
The pride and prodigy of the Manchester City youth system, Barton had a rough time breaking into the professional scene in his early years. The Englishman was rejected by both Everton and Liverpool during his primitive years.
He made just short of 150 appearances for the Citizens before making the switch to Newcastle United. He did manage to influential the Magpies midfield for 4 straight seasons but it came at a heavy price of suspensions and arrest records.
In 4 seasons, Barton made just 84 appearances for the club and was later sold off to Queens Park Rangers in the summer of 2011. He struggled to find his feet in the Championship and even had a loan spell with Ligue 1 outfit, Olympique Marseille.
The Claret and Blues were looking to earn promotion out of the 2015/16 season and Barton helped them do exactly that. He even managed to get his name on the Championship Team Of The Year.
The 1-time England international does have talent under his boots but his entire career got derailed because of the way he conducted himself.
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However, Bruce and every other interested club might just be willing to take that chance just to get the last bit of football out of him. Because as far as regular football goes, Barton can deliver.
