Former England international Gareth Barry joins Hurstpierpoint in ...

Former England international, and the player with the most Premier League appearances, Gareth Barry has come out of retirement to sign for Hurstpierpoint FC.

The club play in the Mid Sussex League Championship – which is in the 12th tier of English football and feeds into the Mid Sussex League Premiership.

“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,” the club said on X (formerly known as Twitter).

“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.”

Barry made 653 Premier League appearances throughout his career between 1998 and 2020. The 43 year old played for Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Bromwich Albion.