Anthony Barry has made a big mark on Chelsea in only a few short years at Stamford Bridge.
It is no surprise that Thomas Tuchel is looking to poach the coach as he looks to build his backroom staff at Bayern Munich - something the German spoke openly about at his unveiling this weekend.
The Liverpudlian Barry, 35, worked under Tuchel at Chelsea having joined during Frank Lampard’s time in the dugout.
Here’s everything you need to know about Anthony Barry...
Playing career
Moving to west London marked the high point of his impressive rise in the game with his playing career spent entirely in the lower leagues, starting at Accrington before reaching the 2007 League One play-off final with Yeovil.
While playing for Chester, he made the controversial switch to north Wales rivals Wrexham - a move that was short-lived as Barry quickly asked for his contract to be cancelled.
The midfielder was then part of the Fleetwood side that rose from the National League North to League Two with back-to-back promotions, being named in the 2011 division team of the year, before a move to Forest Green Rovers in 2013. Injuries began to impact his playing career and, after signing for Accrington, he turned his hand to coaching.
Coaching career
Barry officially hung up his boots after a second, more successful season at Wrexham as he turned 31 in 2017. It didn’t take him long to make the move into coaching, signing up as Paul Cook’s assistant in the Wigan dugout that year.
While being a defensive coach, one of the key assets to Barry’s reputation has been his particular emphasis on set-pieces, partly inspired by Liverpool’s decision to hire a throw-in specialist - much to the derision of some in the game.
He would later recall: “I started to look into all different ways and eventually came to set-pieces - can we use free-kicks or throw-ins? - that’s where I landed at throw-ins and started to study them in more detail. Liverpool had just employed a throw-in coach that I’d read about and I just really wanted to know if they were that important or not.”
At Wigan, Barry helped the Latics win promotion from League One before securing survival in the Championship, aided by star performances from an up-and-coming Chelsea youngster by the name of Reece James.
Cook said of his assistant: “He’s a student of football. He watches games, he’s very much into match analysis as much as coaching. He just lives for football.”
Move to Chelsea
Frank Lampard took him to the Bridge in the summer of 2020 with the job title of first-team coach after they met on a coaching course. Chelsea kept him even when sacking Lampard and, later, Tuchel.
By this time, offers to become a manager in his own right began to arrive with Fleetwood turned down before future interest from QPR.
Barry has been keen to try new horizons with a stint on the Republic of Ireland staff after replacing ex-Chelsea winger Damien Duff in Stephen Kenny’s backroom in 2021. Last year, he departed to work with Roberto Martinez at Belgium and was a fixture in their camp at the Qatar World Cup.
Time with Tuchel
Under Tuchel, he stepped into the breach to help lead the team when the manager tested positive for Covid with his work catching the eye of the now-Bayern boss.
“He’s a big character, very friendly,” said Tuchel in 2021. “He has a great quality analysing games and giving his opinion.
“I feel he's very comfortable on the pitch when handling exercises and he’s a specialist with set-pieces so he does the video session and the training.”
Chelsea now face a fight to keep Barry on their books as Bavaria calls.
