A long way back for Thierno Barry?

Barry’s rise has been sharp. In the space of three years, via three clubs, in Belgium, Switzerland and Spain, he went from Sochaux B to the bright lights of the Premier League, and the glaring spotlight of being the main man tasked with leading Everton’s attack. It has certainly not been a smooth process since Barry’s arrival on Merseyside, but that should have been expected.

After all, he is still young, and still has plenty to improve on. However, he has shown glimpses of his quality, and 6 league goals so far is a respectable tally. But it is also fair to say Barry’s overall displays have left something to be desired.

There have been some outstanding ones — his performance at Old Trafford in November, for example, was a superb centre-forward showing when it came to his all-round play, while he took his goals against Nottingham Forest (twice), Aston Villa and Leeds United extremely well. However, Barry is clearly an emotional person, and at times, that emotion has blurred into immaturity. In the immediate aftermath of Everton’s dramatic loss at Arsenal on 14 March, in which Barry came on from the bench but performed poorly, the Frenchman took to social media to share a video of fans in the away end, seemingly fighting, with people he seemingly claimed to be his friends and family.

We won’t go into the details too much here. There is an ongoing investigation by both the police and Everton. But there is no justification for fans fighting at football stadiums.