Will Barry leave Aston Villa for Chelsea and become the next Sidwell?

As the season draws to a close, it is impossible to miss huge swaths of lists and player of the season awards. In many of the team of the season lists, Gareth Barry barely makes a mention – the more high-profile Cesc Fabregas, Steven Gerrard or Paul Scholes take the centre midfield berths.

But the Aston Villa stalwart has had a terrific season and this appears to have been recognised by some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League who are willing to splash out somewhere in the region of £12 million if the tabloid tittle-tattle is to be believed.

It is easy to understand, as £12 million is not a huge amount for a player these days and a cultured left-foot and great commitment are important commodities to possess in the Premier League.

If the England international does leave Villa Park it will be a great shame for the club who could yet finish in a European position, especially if they can win at Everton on Sunday. If Villa do lose Barry it will set them back a few years and Martin O’Neill will struggle to find a replacement with the dead-ball skills and the work rate that Barry provides.

The Aston Villa midfielder has played nearly 400 games for the club and is the last of a dying breed – players who have remained with one club throughout their careers.

After breaking into the team in May 1998, Barry was tipped for greatness after excelling in a back three with Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu. And in many ways his versatility hindered him in the seasons to follow as a succession of managers failed to get the best out of him.

It has only been in the last two seasons that Barry has really made an impact and this has much to do with his recall to the England national side by Steve McClaren as well as the freedom he has been allowed by O’Neill in an improving Villa team.

Just after the former Celtic and Leicester manager was installed, he persuaded Barry to stay and it is clear Villa are making progress. It could be argued that Barry should stick by Villa since the Holte End stuck by Barry when he was not the player he is today.

But in the modern world of professional football, due to the Bosman and more recent Webster ruling, players such as Barry hold all the aces and the chances are that he will leave in the summer.

Barry recently said that he was waiting for O’Neill to tell him “what we are looking to achieve, what players we are hoping to buy in, whether the manager himself thinks we can move to that next level”.

He added: “It's about medals. I am 27 now. People can ask me what you've won and what you've achieved. I can say that I've achieved a lot of games, played in some big games for my country. You want to finish with at least one piece of silverware in your cabinet if not more. The ideal situation would be to do it at Aston Villa. There have been glimpses before but you have to be competing year in, year out.”

Footballers (and their agents) are becoming increasingly pragmatic and the way it looks now it would be a huge surprise if Barry did not move in the summer to either Chelsea or Liverpool.

The sad fact is that Barry will probably not even play regular football if he goes to Stamford Bridge or Anfield. Both clubs are overstocked with high quality centre midfielders and he could easily spend much of next season on the sidelines à la Steve Sidwell.

It reflects badly on the Premier League when the same four clubs qualify for the Champions League every season and then hoover up the best players from the other leading clubs.

Here’s hoping Barry sees sense and repays his manager’s faith and perhaps even re-establishes the importance of being a “one club man”.