The definitive Premier League XI of modern-day Barclaysmen: Pickford, Burn… | OneFootball

Ahh, the Barclays era. A time when Premier League football was simpler, when no one had heard of heat maps and shooting from outside of the box was very much encouraged.

Of course, we all look back at football’s yesteryear through rose-tinted glasses but the Barclays era has stuck out for many now in their 30s and struggling to keep interested in their 9-5 office job.

But time’s changed my friends and that Barclays era has come and gone. Now, we have the products of Barclays and even in the more systematic Premier League, there’s still an XI who would have no problem fitting in 15 years ago.

And yes, we are playing 4-4-2.

GK: Jordan Pickford

Do we even need to explain ourselves here? Pickford is one of the most Barclaysmen around.

For a start, he’s nuts which is a requirement of any true Barclays-era goalkeeper. Secondly, he’s spent an absolute age at Everton, who have been the home of many Barclaysmen in the past.

With his new buzzed haircut, give him a baggier goalkeeper kit and a less pristine pitch in front of him and it may as well be 2008 again.

RB: Daniel Munoz

We’ll be honest and say that full backs were the hardest position to fill on this list.

The modern full back is far too sexy. Long gone are the days when you would stick your worst player out there. Now they’re expected to actually be good at football, which is a bit annoying.

Perhaps then we should think of them more as central midfielders of the Barclays age, players who can create chances but somehow seem stuck at the glass ceiling of mid-table.

With that in mind, Munoz. He fits the bill for being a creative player who hasn’t broken into the big six. Yet.

CB: Dan Burn

A 6ft 7′ centre back is deserving of a spot for his height alone but Burn has more Barclaysman aura than just that.

Burn has scored a winner in a cup final and the Champions League. Burn has appeared for England at a World Cup. Burn has become captain of his boyhood club.

In summary, Burn has had the career a lot of us dreamed of as kids, even if he was never the best part of that story.

Burn would be one of the most successful Barclaysmen of all time, one who has actually won trophies. He doesn’t have the skill or the technical ability of some of his peers but my god, he can head a ball.

CB: Murillo

Murillo is the perfect fit for a modern-day Barclaysman. He’s very good, but if you asked a random fan to name 15 Premier League centre-backs, we reckon he would not make the list.

Playing for Forest and at a time when other characters at the club are making headlines means he has gone about his business very much under the radar.

Maybe he will one day earn a move to Tottenham, who will no doubt destroy him, but the Brazilian is about as Barclays as it gets.

LB: Tyrick Mitchell

Going in at left back is one-club man Mitchell.

He’s perhaps a bit too technically gifted for a proper Barclaysman, but considering he’s somehow already made 233 Palace appearances, he ticks the box of being in the league for a surprisingly long time.

He’s also got that bit of chaos that we all enjoy.

RM: John McGinn

Perhaps one of the best tests of a Barclaysman is “how much of a normal bloke do they look like?” and with McGinn, that’s an easy one to answer.

If he was a bricklayer, he would not look out of place. Which makes what he has achieved all the more Barclays.

He’s become a club idol at Aston Villa and has the same number of assists as Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Ryan Cherki this season.

CM: Pascal Gross

Why is Gross a cheat code that only Brighton can seem to use? By all accounts, he wasn’t very good at Dortmund and yet he comes back to the south coast and puts in a man of the match performance against the league champions.

He’s been left out of the Germany squad and perhaps an international snub is a true sign of a Barclaysman but Gross is absolutely deserving of a spot in this list.

CM: Mikkel Damsgaard

Let’s all be honest with ourselves and say that if Damsgaard had better hair, he’d probably not fit in this category.

Is it because he looks 36 and not 26? Probably yes, but for four seasons Damsgaard has flown under the radar.

He’s not prolific by any means, registering six league goal involvements last year but has been a mainstay of a Brentford side that has gone from trying to survive to one on the edge of Europe.

LM: Harvey Barnes

A sporadic winger who is never quite consistent enough to be a top top player? That’s prime Barclaysman in our eyes.

Barnes is very good but only on occasion. He’s only once reached double digits for goals in the Premier League and that was for Leicester back in 2022-23, the year they went down.

The winger has just 22 league goals for Newcastle despite now being into his fourth season.

And yet if you looked at the Newcastle squad, you would not identify him as a player they needed to improve.

He’ll probably end his career with about 400 Premier League appearances.

ST: Igor Thiago

Thiago absolutely loves a 3pm kick-off, which means we have got to a situation where he scored 22 goals last season and we are struggling to remember a single one of them.

Was that his Michu season? He earned a World Cup call-up off the back of it, to the annoyance of Joao Pedro, and his form early this season suggests the Brazilian will not be repeating the trick for a second time.

ST: Brian Brobbey

A hat-trick in a losing trip to the Etihad is very much Barclays and surely the answer to a pub quiz question a decade down the line.

Brobbey doesn’t really fit the mould of the modern Premier League striker in that he is built like a brick s**t house and not very quick but he can still score goals.

The comparison to Yakubu is obvious to make for good reason in that he is a nightmare to play against. Also, scoring derby-day winners? Big tick for a Barclaysman.