Joey Barton "disenchanted" with football

Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has revealed that he has fallen out of love with football over the past six months.

The 29-year-old was recently left out of QPR's pre-season tour of Asia as a result of his 12-match suspension from the Football Association for his actions on the final day of the season against Manchester City.

To maintain his fitness, Barton has decided to take part in pre-season training with League Two side Fleetwood Town. It is a decision that Barton hopes will "reignite that passion for the game".

"I have become a little disenchanted with the game in the last six months after what I have put myself through and I desperately want to fall back in love with the game," he wrote on his official website. "I feel that training in the lower leagues will give me a reality check and maybe help me become a better person, a little more humility will serve me well.

"The lower leagues is where the hunger for the game is at its greatest, at least where players are concerned.

"I want to reignite that passion for the game, something that I ordinarily have an abundance of. No monetary bullshit. No media bollocks (though apparently there still is!). No prima donnas. Just pure, old school, mortgage/livelihoods on the line, balls-out football.

"It'll help me appreciate all that the Premier league offers me now and in the future. What else can I do? Work hard, fall back in love with the game and keep my fingers crossed that I can once again earn my place in a QPR shirt."

Reports this afternoon have claimed that QPR are considering loaning out Barton to a club in the Football League to speed up his return from suspension.