“?Joey Barton has revealed that he was due to hold talks with Arsenal before eventually joining Queens Park Rangers back in 2011.
The Burnley midfielder told “?FourFourTwo magazine that his representatives had held tentative discussions with the Gunners hierarchy about moving to the Emirates, but any planned talks were shelved after Barton was sent off against Arsene Wenger’s men during the 2010/11 campaign.
When asked if he ever spoke to Wenger himself, Barton recalled: “No, intermediaries spoke on their behalf.
“There was definitely some low-level interest, and before I got sent off against Arsenal, when the thing with Gervinho happened, I was due to hold some form of discussions with them. But then it never came to be. Would I have liked to have played for Arsenal? Of course. Who wouldn’t?”
During the frank and honest interview, including discussing his time in prison and spats with fellow footballers, Barton was also quizzed on his time at Burnley before his departure to Rangers in July last year.
The veteran midfield man had helped the Clarets achieve promotion back to the Premier League in 2015/16, but opted to head North to join Mark Warburton’s side on a free transfer instead of signing a new deal with Sean Dyche’s outfit.
After a torrid time at Ibrox, Barton re-signed for Burnley on January 2 as a free agent – and Barton explained the reason why he decided to leave Turf Moor in the first place.
Joey Barton isn’t a Rangers player,never was a Rangers player,never up to the task of being a Rangers player.
No point in arguing over him.
He continued: “The Burnley fans are fully aware of how much I enjoyed being there. We lifted the Championship trophy and it was a fantastic group of players with great staff “? Sean Dyche is right up there in the top drawer of managers I’ve played for. Burnley are a great club.
“But in life you get presented with opportunities and sometimes you can’t afford to turn them down, or you will regret it for the rest of your days. I knew I could either play in the Premier League for Burnley or have one opportunity to play for a club like Rangers, back in the top flight after a turbulent period.”
During a somewhat nomadic career, Barton has played for six different clubs in three separate countries – including a season-long loan spell with French side Marseille. The ex-Manchester City and Newcastle player believes that it is hard for clubs on the continent to entice English players to leagues other than England’s lucrative top flight, but maintains that footballers would be better for trying out other leagues in other countries.
He said: “It’s difficult, because the financial power is in the Premier League. Our best players aren’t necessarily going to go abroad to be paid less. But has it improved Gareth Bale as a player? Of course it has.
“I loved it at Marseille. I went out there on the back of a 12-game ban “? I was a pariah in England “? but the people of the city embraced me and I had a fantastic year there that I will never forget.”
Barton was capped just one time by the senior England national side, with his only appearance coming as a late substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Spain in February 2007.
Asked if he would have liked to have featured more often for his country, the Huyton-born star was defiant in his answer, but stated that he probably didn’t deserve further international recognition for his off-the-field behaviour at the time.
He added: “It was an incredible honour to play for my country and I would have loved to have done it a lot more, but obviously my behavioural patterns at the time made that particularly difficult. I was struggling with life; struggling to cope with being me.
“I look back and think I was actually very fortunate to get one cap. But you know within five minutes whether you can cope with that level or not, and I knew that I could play international football.”
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