English call on John Barnes, ultimately to lead dribbling (9)
I believe the answer is:
slavering
'dribbling' is the definition.
('slaver' can be a synonym of 'dribble')
'english call on john barnes' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'call' becomes 'ring' ('ring' can be a synonym of 'call').
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'john barnes' becomes 'slav' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'e'+'ring'='ering'
'ering' put after 'slav' is 'SLAVERING'.
'ultimately to lead' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for slavering that I've seen before include "Desperately keen" , "Drooling" , "be desperately anxious" .)