Former Wigan Athletic coach Anthony Barry admits England link-up with Thomas Tuchel is 'quite surreal'

The 38-year-old Liverpudlian has experienced an incredible journey over the last seven years, since Paul Cook gave him his first managerial post at Wigan in 2017.

After three years with Latics - which came to an end when the club was placed into administration by their former owners - Barry was poached by Chelsea.

Barry had done his coaching badges with then-Blues boss Frank Lampard, and he stayed on when the former England star was replaced by Thomas Tuchel the following summer.

The rest, as they say is history, with Tuchel taking Barry with him to Bayern Munich last year.

Oh, and the small matter of working under Roberto Martinez with Belgium and Portugal, after beginning his international journey with the Republic of Ireland, and you have a CV that made him the obvious choice once Tuchel was headhunted by England.

"It's pretty incredible, quite surreal!" acknowledged Barry. "Since we started the process, Thomas and I, I've loved every minute of it.

"As soon as I heard about it, and saw it capture the imagination of Thomas the way that it did, back and forward, sharing so much energy towards it, using our imagination, thinking what we could do with these players...and of course the extra layer for me, being an Englishman.

"I've worked for a few federations around the world, at the highest level, but for me to come home to England, and represent the FA, and England, and the Three Lions, it's the proudest day of my career so far."

On his international experience, Barry added: "Hopefully that will help us. I've been very fortunate in the last few years to work for some of the biggest teams in the world, whether that's been at club level or international level.

"For quite a young coach, I do have quite a lot of experience, and I hope that experience - particularly at international level - can help us.

"We've already spoken about the transition, we want to move quickly, we want to be streamlined with our processes, and hopefully my experience at international level will help us to facilitate that process."

And as for now calling Wembley his 'home' ground'?

"It feels amazing to be here, it's an amazing stadium," Barry told ‘The FA’. "I saw a quote on the wall from Pele saying Wembley is the heart of football, a cathedral of football, and I think he's right.

"All around the world, Wembley is celebrated as the home of football, and for me it's so amazing to be back here.

"I've got so many memories of Euro '96, coming down with my father to watch the games, and some not-so-good memories as a player, losing play-off finals.

"I've won and lost here as coach but, whatever the result, it's always been an amazing experience to be inside the stadium, and I cannot wait to be stood on the touchline wearing the Three Lions."

For his part, Tuchel admitted it was a no-brainer to get Barry on board.

“We work now for the third time together, and I’m very happy to have him at my side," said the German. "He is on top of it, English, full of energy, quality and a fantastic coach.

"He has a huge amount of experience in international football, being assistant coach for Portugal, Ireland and Belgium.

"I think that’s already helped me a lot to understand the schedule better, the nomination process better, to get a feeling for what we’re talking about here when the talks started.”