Morecambe bring in former Manchester City and Rangers winger

The 27-year-old, who came through the ranks at Manchester City, has been a free agent since leaving Cypriot club Omonia last August.

His arrival follows those of Gwion Edwards, Archie Mair, Joe Adams, Ged Garner and Kayden Harrack as Shrimps’ boss Ged Brannan pieces together a squad hit by the departures of five loanees.

A former England international at U18, U19 and U20 levels, Barker said: “I’m absolutely delighted, I can’t wait to get going and hopefully I can really help the team.

“The boys are obviously doing well this year, a few games in hand and not too far off the play-offs, so hopefully I can bring my experience in and help the team climb the table.

“The lads have been very welcoming. It’s nice for me because I can live at home for the first time in a very long time so that’s an added bonus, so it’s been brilliant so far.

“(I’ll) hopefully hit the ground running and become much sharper over the coming games. Hopefully I’ll excite them (the fans), get them on their feet and get them in to watch us.”

Having only made one appearance for City – coming against Chelsea in the FA Cup – Barker had loan spells with Rotherham United, NAC Breda, Hibernian and Preston North End.

He scored twice in 20 appearances for North End, one of those goals coming in their 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Morecambe in August 2018.

Barker then left the Etihad Stadium permanently in 2019, having signed a three-year deal with Rangers.

In his time at Ibrox, Barker won the Scottish Premiership in 2020-21 but only featured 27 times – and was loaned to Oxford United – by the time he left in January 2022.

A short-term contract with Reading followed before making the move to Omonia that summer, winning the 2022-23 Cypriot Cup along the way.

His time at City, however, was recently remembered by Liverpool and England defender Trent Alexander-Arnold.

He told the Reds’ YouTube channel last year how Barker had ‘destroyed’ him when the clubs’ U21 teams met at Anfield in 2016.