Newcastle's Joey Barton: I'm as good as any Eng midfielder!
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Newcastle's Joey Barton insists: I'm as good as any England midfielder
Joey Barton has astonishingly claimed that he is as good as England's Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
The 27-year-old Newcastle midfielder is convinced that at his best he is equal to any of the midfielders Fabio Capello included in his World Cup squad.
Despite making just 34 starts in three seasons for Newcastle, Barton boasted that he was 'as good as anybody in this country.'
Another chance: Joey Barton returns to the Premier League with Newcastle this season determined to show his best form and put a troubled past behind him
Newcastle splashed out an amazing £5.8million to buy him from Manchester City in 2007, despite his training ground assault on teammate Ousmane Dabo, which ended in a conviction and suspended jail sentence.
The St James' Park club have had precious little return on their investment, with Barton spending months sidelined through injury and having a spell in jail after another assault conviction, for fighting in Liverpool's city centre.
But Barton, who still thinks he has the ability to add to his one England cap, now claims he intends to rediscover his best form and bolster Newcastle's return to the Premier League.
He captained Chris Hughton's side in Saturday's 3-0 friendly victory at Car lisle and told the Evening Chronicle: 'First and foremost, I want to do well for Newcastle United. 'But watching some of the performances in the World Cup over the summer, I think that on form, I'm as good as anybody in this country.
The competition: Barton considers himself the equal of Lampard and Gerrard
'I don't say that lightly and I have to go out and prove that, but surely every midfielder in this country should be thinking like that?
No lightweight: Joey Barton intends to get his form
'They should be looking at it and saying, "That's where I want to be and that's where I can go".
'That's my goal, and if I break into the England squad, it proves that I am doing fantastic for this football club. At the end of the day, I was an England international as a box-to-box midfield player.
'I don't say this lightly, but I'm a much more rounded footballer now than I was when I first signed for this club. Injuries have restricted my chances to show that.
'If I can sustain fitness for a long period of time, I'm very confident of finding the form that got me in the England squad.'
Barton has a history of voicing his opinion of the England squad after a World Cup failure.
After the 2006 tournament, Barton slammed those of Sven Goran Eriksson's players who wrote autobiographies, saying they were simply looking to cash in on the team's lack of success.
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Compare u to Alam Shah (in terms of violence)
Alam Shah better -
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Newcastle bigmouth Joey Barton tells Fabio Capello: I'm the answer to your problems
Good old Joey.
Just when you thought it was safe to start preparing for another quiet season at
St James' Park, the man with the loudest mouth and strongest opinions at Newcastle (well among the players, that is) lets the world know he is heading back into the Premier League.
First Carlisle, then the world: Newcastle's Joey Barton is ready to answer England's call
And so, with just 45 minutes at Carlisle under his belt, Joey Barton informs us that he is the solution to all Fabio Capello's woes and would have performed far better at the World Cup than any England midfielder. (Not that that would be difficult).
Yes, Barton is back. He is certain to ruffle the feathers of the teams and supporters in the top flight after a year away, which was mostly spent on the treatment table.
There are few players who will be booed as much as him this year. But you just know he loves it.
The jeers at Brunton Park were rather subdued by Barton's standards but the controversial former Manchester City midfielder knows he will face much more hostility when he returns to Old Trafford on the opening weekend of the season.
And it is not just his chequered past which singles Barton out when he is on opposition territory. Don't forget this is a player who divided opinion at his own club after his jail sentence and who was fortunate to keep his place in the Newcastle squad at all.
It's Barton's mouth not his fists which wind people up now but rather like the cantankerous old Yorkshireman in the Harry Enfield sketches, Barton has a tendency to 'say what he likes and like what he bloody well says.'
This week the 27-year-old turned his attention on England and their World Cup debacle and Barton, with one England cap to his name, is convinced he would have done far better than the likes of Gerrard and Lampard in South Africa.
He said: 'First and foremost, I want to do well for Newcastle United. 'But watching some of the performances in the World Cup over the summer, I think that on form, I'm as good as anybody in this country.
'I don't say that lightly and I have to go out and prove that, but surely every midfielder in this country should be thinking like that?
'They should be looking at it and saying, "That's where I want to be and that's where I can go".
'That's my goal, and if I break into the England squad, it proves that I am doing fantastic for this football club. At the end of the day, I was an England international as a box-to-box midfield player.
'I don't say this lightly, but I'm a much more rounded footballer now than I was when I first signed for this club. Injuries have restricted my chances to show that.
'If I can sustain fitness for a long period of time, I'm very confident of finding the form that got me in the England squad.'
Barton is at least right that he has to nail down a place in the Newcastle side first and as manager Chris Hughton tinkers with his selections in the increasingly testing friendlies over the coming weeks, he can be certain that motor mouth Joey will be doing his utmost to convince him he should start when the season kicks off at Old Trafford.
Not so much a quiet word in his shell-like, more a megaphone from the top of the Gallowgate. He would not expect anything else.
Opinion divider: Joey Barton's career has been one of injuries, controversy and unfulfilled potential
It is only one game into pre-season and Newcastle's players will start to find their feet, stamina and limits over the coming weeks - but even at Carlisle Hughton could surely see that Barton and Danny Guthrie offer much more energy and creativity in midfield than Alan Smith and Kevin Nolan.
Nolan at least can play off the lone striker, which will presumably be Andy Carroll, on the frequent occasions Hughton is likely to use that system.
He has conceded he needs extra bodies in to see him through difficult months ahead and even if he uses him predominantly from the bench, a striker to help Carroll carry that burden has to be a priority.
It is very early days for Hughton and Newcastle. There were some encouraging signs at Carlisle, particularly seeing the bright young talent performing, and there will be some concerns, particularly about the older fraternity.
And then there was Joey Barton, strutting his stuff and looking very comfortable at the heart of the Newcastle team. Letting his football do the talking on the pitch, then letting his mouth run away with him afterwards.
Yup, he's back.
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He may have a point after england's world cup showing....
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ok...first match is man u vs newcastle..
if he can perform well..then yea maybe he is good.
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Why compare yourself to english midfielders when u should be aiming to reach the spanish midfield standards lol.
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At least his better than S league midfield players