In international terms, however, it’s a curse, if Gareth Barry’s experience is anything to go by. It has been 14 months since the left-footed midfielder was last called into an England squad, and after coming on as a substitute in friendlies against South Africa and Serbia-Montenegro, he’s given up thinking about playing for his country.
“Basically, there were a lot of injuries and withdrawals and I was on hand with the under-21s,” he says. “I got a short spell at left-back and a few minutes at centre-half, which, when your best position is left midfield, makes it hard to make an impression.
“Obviously, I didn’t, because a lot of big squads have come and gone since then. The fact that I haven’t figured despite playing some of my best football suggests I’m not in their thinking, so I’ve pretty much forgotten about it.”
Barry doesn’t really do emotion (not in public anyway) and his face remains more or less expressionless. A few minutes later, however, he returns to the subject of his own volition.
“It’s a bit of a myth, the idea that I’m always playing in different positions,” he says. “Last season I consistently played on the left of midfield, where I’m happiest — and that’s what’s so disappointing about England. Other players get tried there out of their normal position . . . ” He lets the sentence hang, then shrugs. “It’s just not happening for me, so the best thing I can do is get on with doing my best for Villa.”
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The words will delight O’Leary, not least because half an hour later the Irishman is saying much the same thing about the 23-year-old. “He’s got the ability to do a very effective job at left-back or centre-half, and there’ll probably be times when I have to call on him to do that, but for me he’s a creative midfield player and a very good one,” he says. “Put it this way: I’m sure the opposition are much happier to see him playing full-back than hurting them with runs or passes or crosses.
“What we want is for him to be more dominant on the ball, to create more chances. I had the feeling last season that the contract thing might be playing on his mind, but that’s gone now, so I’m looking for the Gareth Barry of two years ago to re-emerge.”
The “contract thing” was the fact that after seven years at the club he’d joined as a trainee, Barry had to decide where his future lay. Many said it might be time for him to move on, and he admits that had Villa not moved up the League to finish in sixth place from 16th, he might have opted for a fresh start.
Instead, he has signed a new four-year deal, keeping him at Villa Park until he is 27 — or at least guaranteeing the club
a fair fee if a bigger club moves in, as has often been forecast. For Barry, however, Villa is a big club, with the potential to win trophies.
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“I wouldn’t have signed if I didn’t believe that,” he says. “Okay, maybe not the Premiership, but Europe’s got to be an aim, together with a Cup. You can never say you won’t move — this time last week I bet Jonathan Woodgate wasn’t thinking he’d become a Real Madrid player — but I feel settled and happy here.”
In the opinion of some experts, that is one of Barry’s problems. Another big club might offer him the positional stability he needs to secure the England berth that seems there for the taking.
When Sven-Göran Eriksson appears to be so short of options on the left that he is seriously considering pushing Wayne Bridge forward, a naturally left-footed midfielder as classy and intelligent as Barry should be an automatic selection.
O’Leary thinks he still can be, as long as he does the business for Villa: “The England management are here often enough, watching Darius Vassell, so the opportunity is there to impress. That they’re considering Bridge tells you there’s an imbalance and that they’re looking for somebody to fill the gap.
“I spoke to Tord Grip (England’s assistant manager) last week, and he’s aware of the players here. But my agenda is simply to get Gareth playing well, week in, week out, for Villa. It’s up to him to display his ability consistently, get people talking about him, and if he does, the England thing will look after itself.”
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Barry wouldn’t have signed his new contract if he didn’t enjoy working with O’Leary, which is at least a good starting point.
“It was certainly a factor, because I feel as though I’m improving playing for him,” Barry says.
“He’s introduced a completely new training programme, and I think my game has moved forward as a result. He wants you to play, but he’s very keen on fitness. He likes his teams to work very hard. Most of us have got fitter since he arrived, according to all the tests.
“People talk as though I’ve been around for a long time, but I’m still only 23 and a footballer isn’t supposed to reach his peak until he’s 27 or so. That gives me a lot of scope to keep getting better, hopefully.”
If he does, Barry can hardly fail to get an extended run in an international shirt. Unless, of course, another creative left-footed midfielder with similar ability emerges in the meantime. But that seems an unlikely prospect.