"He'll bring a lot of experience to international football, he played at international level and has the added benefit of having played with most of the players in the squad," said the former Liverpool winger.
"Like Mark Hughes, the players will instantly respect him because they have played with him and they know what a great player he was.
"Ian is one of the most qualified coaches in England in terms of the qualifications that he has got. He's also been coaching for a while with Liverpool and the Welsh Under-17 team," said Barnes.
"He's had the chance to learn from a lot of great managers like Trapattoni when he was at Juventus, and Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool."