It seems like the standing ovation that Evertonians gave Thierno Barry as he came off the pitch mattered more than any of us could have expected.
Patrick Boyland wrote an absolute banger of a feature piece on Barry for The Athletic, which is probably worth the price of a monthly subscription in itself. The French striker sat down with Boyland to discuss his career journey, and how he has stayed positive amidst a tough start to life at Everton.
Barry mentioned how much that standing ovation after he was subbed off against Fulham affected him, but the reoccurring theme of the article is how Barry has always had to adapt to new situations with varying success.
Barry scored in his second match at Villarreal shortly after he joined the La Liga giant, and he used that game as a springboard to bigger and better things.
In Switzerland, he struggled at first to get going for FC Basel 1893, not scoring a single goal in his first 18 league matches for the club. That run is similar to the one he is currently riding with the Toffees.
“It took about seven months to adapt and it got to the point where I wasn’t that popular with the fans and got a bit depressed,” Barry told The Athletic about his time at Basel. “I arrived late to football and had never been in an academy. So I was always playing catch-up as I wasn’t used to that regimented environment.”
The message is clear from Barry: Once the first goal comes in, others will follow pretty quickly, but it’ll take some time for him to get ramped up to the level of the Premier League.
Strikers are defined by their stretches of dominance, and Barry is no exception. In fact, he may be more reliant on going on a hot stretch than most forwards. That can be a bit of a curse and a blessing.
As of now, we’ve only seen Barry at his worst, but if and when he gets going, surely he’ll show fans why the club spent a lot of resources to acquire his services.