I essentially never join up other teams' forums but such is my disappointment with the move I thought I'd write something up.
Firstly, I'll confess I'm a huge Barnes fan. I'm a very similar age, I'd tracked his progress as a youth player and saw him make his debut at Porto's ground. I had high hopes for him from the beginning.
His first loan at MK Dons was promising - he scored 6 in 19 nineties as raw, pacey winger with the ability to use both feet and score from distance; albeit in League 1. That summer he won the Toulon tournament with England and he was the joint top-scorer, iirc.
Next was his loan to Barnsley which was fairly productive, scoring 5 in 15 nineties. They sacked their manager so he was in and out of the side until he was recalled, he only played 10 minutes for the first team despite mediocre football under Puel. He did however score 5 in 7 games at PL 2 level, which he was clearly a cut above by then.
At 20 he was loaned to West Brom which was his breakthrough season. Playing mostly as an AM as the 10 in a 352 he thrived scoring 9 and assisting 6 in 26 apps. He was scoring outrageous goals, creating and beating players in a way we haven't really seen since - especially the latter two. He was recalled again, making 11 starts scoring once and assisting twice. We were still a dysfunctional attacking unit under Puel but he had a knack of fluffing one-on-ones that season. Puel was sacked and he fared a bit better under Rodgers but question marks were raised over his finishing.
19-20 was his PL breakout top flight season scoring 6 and assisting 8, he was in and out the side but it was the first evidence he was productive PL winger. Also when he always scored against Leeds and Villa. He was pretty exciting with his pace and would often take it past players but not as nimble winger but with pace and power.
20-21, he started like a house on fire and per 90 it's been his most productive season to date when he scored 9, assisted 4 in 25 starts - until he cruelly did his knee in January. By this stage he'd banished his finishing demons and was usually very reliable in goal. It was after the injury he was less agile and he naturally bulked up with age despite being fairly stocky anyway. The extra mass and injury coincided with his dribbling and carry numbers falling.
After that he's been a mainstay in the side but for whatever reasons, including a few smaller injuries he's never really out together a 35+ starts season. Since 20-21 he's scored 19 in 53.4 nineties and notched up 11 assists. He was great in our European campaigns too. His trademark goals have been 1-2s, cutting inside and finding the far post, powerful strikes and getting on the end of cut backs.
He's always been more of a forward than a winger, despite the assist number he's not the most creative but maybe that's a function of playing under Puel and Rodgers; neither of which are very good coaches. He's a bit unrefined for a 25 year old so I think Howe can eke more out of him. As for his character he's surprisingly meek, both in character and defensively. His dad is an ex-pro is he is very grounded and pretty normal for a footballer although the rumours are he likes a pint.
He can drift out of games, the criticism and it isn't unfair is: you'll tell if he'll have a good game or bad game inside 5 minutes. if his first touch is off he'll go missing, if he beats his man, he'll have a blinder.
Overall you've got a proper goalscorer, 0.32 goals per 90 through is career is verging on elite numbers for a winger, especially as we were never that good in his time here. I wish him well and I think he's got the potential to score 10+, maybe even pushing up to 15 every season for 5 years to come. The fee stings considering his number but that's more our incompetence than anything else.
