THIERNO BARRY INTERVIEW: I was rejected by Hamilton Academical four years ago and fell out of love with football… now I’m happier than ever at Everton and trying to be the next Erling Haaland

Thierno Barry knows all about slow starts, so the fact he began his Everton career with a 16-game drought perhaps should not have been a surprise.

Now the Premier League’s most in-form striker with five goals from his last 10 shots, he can look back and smile at his struggle to produce tangible returns in his first few months in England.

But the 23-year-old has made a habit of being a late bloomer. At one of his former clubs, Swiss side Basel, Barry started out with two red cards and wanted to quit football after what he describes as a ‘horrible six months’.

‘I had played in Belgium (at Beveren) and scored 20 goals, easy! And then I went to Basel and I thought it would be easy to score there, too. It was not,’ he tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘With the pressure and everything I lost my confidence, I lost the love to play football.

‘I lost everything. My coach told me to go on holiday, turn my phone off and enjoy life. I went to Zanzibar with my girlfriend and I saw some kids playing on the beach. She said, “Go play with these kids”.

‘I went and played a game, I was dribbling and just loved to touch the ball. I was dribbling around them and after they asked me, “Are you a professional footballer?” I said no! When I came back to Basel I was like a different person.’

Barry has four goals in his last five league games. It’s not the first time in his career he’s recovered from a slow start

Barry, not for the first or last time during this candid interview, is chuckling with laughter. A bubbly, pleasant chap, the striker is flanked by a translator but does not need her help apart from some bigger words as his English is ever-improving, just like his football.

Watching English shows on Netflix with subtitles to aid him is Barry’s main method of improving his language skills, plus talking to fellow French speakers like Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye – though both were away with Senegal around the time the striker started scoring. ‘I’m feeling very good,’ he says of his recent uptick in form. ‘A striker is always happy when he’s scoring.’

But the Lyon-born forward, signed for £27million after one season in Spain with Villarreal, did not just have a slow start at Everton or former club Basel. He has had an unconventional journey altogether and, as recently as four years ago, was failing a trial at Scottish side Hamilton.

‘I was (on trial) at Clermont Foot but I played as a centre back then, at Under 17s level. They said, “We have a player like you, so no”. And at Under 19s level, I went to Scotland, to Hamilton Academical. I played as a No 6.

‘I stayed there for one month and I trained with the team. When I did the three-day trial, I asked: “What is the answer, do I stay on?”. The manager said “come tomorrow”. So I came tomorrow and I said: “What is the answer?” And he said (again) “come tomorrow”.

‘After two weeks I said, “You need to tell me the answer, because if it’s no, I will go back to France”. They said they had a player like me… if I wanted, I could stay (on trial), but they couldn’t give me a contract.’

Given Hamilton are now in the third tier of Scotland and ravaged by financial issues, their bosses may have felt a pang of regret watching Barry dink a winner against Aston Villa earlier this month, or equalise against Leeds with an instinctive finish on Monday.

Unlike Accies, Barry’s new boss David Moyes knew exactly what he was getting, having studied him and considered signing him when he was at Basel.

Barry scores his most recent goal – a well-taken equaliser against Leeds on Monday. It’s all a far cry from the days when he was being rejected by Hamilton Academical four years ago

The striker shows off his technical skill with a deft finish against Aston Villa earlier this month

Asked on Friday if Barry is coming out of his shell, Moyes told us: ‘Absolutely. I heard him talking the other day! He’s not someone who is incredibly vocal but I am hearing his voice more, he is getting more accepted.

‘Not everyone’s personality is the same and he is a quiet boy coming into a new culture. It is not easy for centre forwards coming to the Premier League and he is a young one, probably not as known as some of the others.

‘Look at Jean-Philippe Mateta for Crystal Palace, how long did it take him to settle? Everyone judges (new signings) too quickly. He is settling, fitting in, he looks happier.’

Barry had been studying clips of fellow French forward Hugo Ekitike, the Liverpool new boy four months older than him, to try to understand how to hit the ground running in the Premier League. He has also employed a personal trainer to practise with at home.

Kitted out in retro Everton shirts, which he bought from the club shop outside Hill Dickinson Stadium, Barry will practise hold-up play, passing and anything but finishing – ‘I don’t do that because I know I can score,’ he says – in a goal in his garden.

He has also hired a personal nutritionist, video analyst, two physios and a chef.

But when he walks out on to the pitch, his army of personal backroom staff cannot help any more – and, as it says on his wrist, it is just ‘me versus me’.

‘I got it in Basel,’ says Barry of the tattoo. ‘When I did the first six months, it was like my fault if I didn’t score, if I didn’t play good.

‘The second part of the tattoo was when I played good, I saw it as me against me. One day if I forget about things, I can remember by looking at this.’

‘He’s not someone who is incredibly vocal but I am hearing his voice more, he is getting more accepted,’ says Everton boss David Moyes of Barry

Barry’s lowest point at Everton came when he missed a penalty against Sunderland in the FA Cup. But he insists he won’t be changing his technique anytime soon

Despite his early difficulties, the affable Frenchman has a smile on his face now. ‘A striker is always happy when he’s scoring,’ he says

It is how Barry started to get over his tough run in his early months on these shores, which reached a nadir with a penalty miss in the FA Cup against Sunderland.

‘It was just one penalty,’ he says. ‘It was the only penalty I missed in my career. That can happen. Even Lionel Messi can miss a penalty. If tomorrow I had a penalty, I’d take it in the same way. 

‘Afterwards, I just said, “OK, we lost, now we need to focus on the league to go into Europe”. I forgot that game and looked to the next game.’

He has hardly looked back since – but knows this is just the start and that he has not achieved anything yet. So what are his future goals, aside from taking Everton to Europe? Just like most strikers, the answer is to be like Erling Haaland.

‘I love to watch Kylian Mbappe, he is a French player, and also Erling Haaland,’ Barry says. ‘He has scored a lot of goals in the Premier League so I want to be like him. I try my best but he is too strong! I hope one day I can be like him.’