Joey Barton plans to pen book on his 'highbrow' off-the-pitch life

Joey Barton is planning to put pen to paper about "highbrow" off-the-pitch influences and interests in his life and the midfield controversy, it has been revealed.

A source said that the 32-year-old fiery footballer read sports journalist Matthew Syed and author Jeff Hudson's pages on him and felt both of them hadn't understood the message he wanted to portray, the Daily Star reported.

The insider added that the QPR midfielder, who has been doing some creative writing classes and has decided to carry on himself, has ended an agreement he had with Penguin to publish the book.

The source continued that Barton, who has become very knowledgeable about self-publishing and is seriously considering doing it himself, loves social media, as a lot of people know, and he's looking into the possibility of publishing it digitally first, before selling it as a hardback book.

As per the source, Barton wants people to realise he's different from other footballers and to see him as someone more intelligent than a player who keeps getting sent off.

The insider further added that Barton, who is really excited about the whole project, has been going to talks by people like Sir Dave Brailsford, the chief of British cycling, because he wants to gain a better understanding of leadership qualities in all sports.