The Premier League legend faced accusations of moving for the money when he joined Manchester City, but Liverpool and Arsenal offered him just as much

Gareth Barry has insisted his move to Manchester City wasn't motivated by money after turning down the same contract offer from Liverpool and Arsenal. Barry was part of an influx of signings at the Etihad after Sheikh Mansour's takeover in September 2008.

He arrived the following summer in a £12million move after establishing himself as one of the Premier League's most reliable midfielders at Aston Villa. He'd been the subject of several bids from Liverpool the year before, with Barry publicly criticising Villa boss Martin O'Neill for not persuading him to stay.

"It was a tough period of time," he reflected on All Out Football's In The Mixer. "[I] fell out with Martin O'Neill for a period of time. It leaves a sour taste because you're getting told they're 100% going to get the deal done.

"And this was my first real experience of a transfer. I was an experienced football player but transfers, I didn't really know how they worked. It leaves a sour taste when you get told that the deal is going to be done.

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"[You] start looking at houses, start looking at schools for your children. You're thinking, 'Wow, this is serious. I'm going to be leaving Aston Villa and playing for another football club.'"

However, neither Liverpool, nor their opponents on Sunday, Arsenal, managed to meet Villa's asking price and Barry was stripped of the captaincy, fined two weeks' wages and banned from training with the first-team squad. He ultimately stayed for another season and regained the armband midway through the campaign.

Having made his desire to play Champions League football known, Barry raised eyebrows when he instead joined City, who had just finished 10th in the Premier League. "There was still interest from the same teams - Liverpool, Arsenal," he explained.

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"And then all of a sudden Man City came from nowhere. But that was massively in my mind. [The] Liverpool deal was still there. Arsene Wenger was saying, 'Listen, we're still interested, but can you wait?' [He] obviously had other targets and that wasn't the way I worked. I wasn't going to wait around for Arsenal.

"Liverpool, they were talking about me playing sometimes left midfield, sometimes left-back, and there was no talk of replacing [Xabi] Alonso. A lot of people, Liverpool fans, always come up to me and say, 'It's your fault Alonso left!' No, it wasn't. There was no talk about Alonso leaving.

"Then Man City just came in and mentioned players they were going to be signing, and the whole feel of City not having won a trophy for a long period of time. You know, something about me being part of that just thought, 'You know what? I'm probably more of an underdog player, rather than going and joining a team that had been there recently and done it.'

"So everything just was there to go to Man City. New challenge. Obviously a massive risk. And that's where my head was at the time."

Naturally, Barry was accused of chasing the money by frustrated Villa fans. But he insists he could've taken the same pay packet at Anfield or the Emirates.

He continued: "People say Man City, you went for the money, the contract. The conversation I had with Liverpool and Arsenal at the time, the contracts were exactly the same. 'The contracts are fine, we can pay that, we can do this.'

"It wasn't a case of joining Man City for the money. Liverpool and Arsenal both were saying we can match the contracts. So yeah, it was Man City that excited me more, that probably would help my England career, and [I was] going to be playing regularly rather than a bit. Looking back, it was a risk but the right choice."

Barry went on to spend four years playing for City, winning the FA Cup in 2011 and being part of the dramatic Premier League triumph the following season. He has the second most Premier League appearances in history after James Milner surpassed his record last season, and racked up 53 caps for England.