We thought we’d seen the last of him, but no, he’s back: your angry, rather intense mate who will reel off a poetic Smiths lyric one minute and be aggressively wielding a cigar the next has returned to the Premier League (subject to international clearance). Welcome home, Joey Barton.
Barton had a successful first spell at Turf Moor under Clarets boss Sean Dyche, with the 34-year-old being named in the Championship PFA Team of the Year for 2015/16. If anyone can get the best out of football’s Nietzsche-quoting, permanently angsty bad boy, it’s Dyche. Now watch as he gets sent off in his first game for trying to fight a corner flag.
Despite the slightly pissy headline, there’s no doubt that with Barton back in the Premier League, dull moments will be few and far between.