After years and years of being shunted around from position to position - a compromise between trying to help his beloved Aston Villa's threadbare squad, and trying to work out the best way to break into the England side - Gareth Barry seems to have finally found some stability and recognition. An essential figure in England's "renaissance" (well, with regards to the Euro 2008 qualifiers at least), Barry looks to have established himself as Steven Gerrard's partner in central midfield. He was excellent in their 3-0 win over Estonia today, but of course the true test will come in midweek, when they play Russia away on the infamous "plastic pitch". But over 3 games, it's been a case of so-far-so-good for the affable Villa man, and today he was picked ahead of Frank Lampard.

His case has been helped by a few factors of course - both Owen Hargreaves and Lampard have had injury problems, and Martin O'Neill's success with the Villa side has helped him boost his profile. But there's also the fact that the general public have finally noticed that Frank Lampard is overrated and fat. And that apart from running a whole lot, making square passes, and talking in a funny accent, Owen Hargreaves doesn't offer much else.

Barry on the other hand has a calming effect in midfield. He's disciplined, tidy, and has that oh-so-rare quality of being both English and left-footed. It's improved the balance of the midfield, and allowed Steven Gerrard to get forward and do what he does best - be brilliant. Of course I'm not suggesting that this has suddenly solved England's problems, but it has given them some clarity in the short-term. They need to focus on qualifying, and they have the system to do it now, especially because they aren't be facing any teams of real quality. Once they come up against Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, and so on, they will need to have a better philosophy in place than "Give the ball to Stevie".

Anyhow, back to Barry!

Now 26, he broke into the England squad at the age of 19. It was the Kevin Keegan era, and he played on the left of a back three. He was the much vaunted, left-footed, ball-playing centreback that England had apparently been crying out for so many years. At Villa he had broken through as a centre-half, and it was in that role that he had impressed Keegan, who decided to fit him into his system in a way that would allow some freedom and options to pass and distribute. His full debut came against France, and after the game the plaudits poured in - the new Stuart Pearce, Paolo Maldini, blah, blah, blah. The English media didn't disappoint, throwing up it's usual elixir of superlatives and hyperbole. Although in truth, Barry had played very impressively.

And that was more or less the end of that. Kevin Keegan's Three-At-The-Back turned out to be rubbish, and was on it's way, and then Kevin Keegan turned out to be rubbish, and he was on his way. In came the bog standard back four, and with Barry primarily being a centre-back, he found no way into the team ahead of Adams, Keown, Ferdinand, Woodgate and so on.

Valiantly, he began to play as a left-back for his club, both out of necessity and a wish to further himself with England, who had been crying out for a decent LEFT-FOOTED left-back for years, but instead had to make do with Phil Neville basically not really doing anything apart from running up and down, being ugly and giving away penalties. Unfortunately for Barry, this was around the time that Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge both emerged, and that was really the end of his left-back story.

Fast forward a few more seasons, and our friend Gareth has now pushed on up into mid-field. Although struggling at first, he raises and adapts his game, and though he's not the quickest or most skillful player, he does a fantastic job of understanding what is needed in the wide positions, and does very efficient, very good work. Now if England had a paucity of decent-left backs, then they had (and still have) an absolute vacuum of left-sided midfielders. Under Sven Goran Eriksson's reign as manager, they used Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Owen Hargreaves, Wayne Rooney, Joe Cole, Trevor Sinclair, Danny Murphy, Darius Vassell, Phil Neville, and yes, EVEN Emile Heskey in that role. Apart from Joe Cole in flashes, and Wayne Rooney because of his obvious talents, none ever really looked any good, and so surely the left-footed Barry would get a look in. His crosses would be appreciated by the likes of Crouch, Heskey and Rooney. His natural left-footedness and width would have added balance to the midfield, and made things less congested in the centre, and his defensive nous would have allowed Ashley Cole to rampage forward like he did for Arsenal. But inexplicably, Barry never got a chance.

Ever the good pro, he never once complained. Not when he was left out as a centreback, not when he was left out as a left back, and not when he was left out as a left midfielder. He never complained when he was shunted around from position to position at Villa, and despite his talent and ability, he never once wavered in his commitment to them. And somehow throughout all of this, he managed to play well too. Sparkling in rare patches, he mostly drew attention with his shocking consistency. He almost never had a bad game, and almost always had a good game. He was not a matchwinner on most days that he played, but always pitched in with hardwork and his fair share of assists, and added goals to his game as well.

Finally, under Martin O'Neill last year, it seemed like Barry had given up on England. To add to this, he had started to play in the centre of midfield, sitting tidily in front of the back four, passing the ball around, and the arrival of Nigel Reo-Coker this past summer only served to cement this as his permanent position under O'Neill. Barry as ever didn't object, did his job, and did it well. And herein lies the great irony in all of this; if England were overloaded with centre-halves when Barry was making the breakthrough as a 19 year old, then they are now doubly overloaded with central midfielders - Hargreaves, Gerrard, Lampard, Parker, Carrick, Reo-Coker, Jenas, and so on. But somehow, despite being consistently overlooked by England when they needed him most, he has now made the breakthrough in a position where they need him the least. Well, "need" of course is open to interpetation.

It's sad that in 7 years he has only accumulated 13 caps for his country, when he should have had at least 30. But hopefully now we can finally say that he's arrived, and that people are taking notice of him and his ability. McLaren has been wearing a quite unsightly grin of late, to go with his amazing redness and thinning gingerness, and Barry has been a big part of that. Good luck Gareth!