Villa boss Martin O’Neill has spoken to Gareth Barry and Rafa Benitez over the Liverpool saga after booting Patrik Berger out of the club for suggesting Barry should move to Anfield.
O’Neill has reassured his captain ‘proper discussions’ to keep the £14m-rated midfielder at Villa will take place soon after the season ends this Sunday.
Later editions of yesterday’s Express & Star revealed O’Neill ended Berger’s Villa career for saying Barry should take up the Reds offer ‘tomorrow’ because it was a ‘chance of a lifetime’.
O’Neill called Benitez after being angered by Liverpool’s faxed ‘£10m offer’ for Barry last week.
“Just to help clear his mind, I spoke to Gareth on Monday,” said O’Neill. “Gareth might have been affected by all the things that happened to him and I shared that viewpoint.
“I won’t divulge what was said but we’ll wait until the end of the season.
“I’ve spoken to him very briefly and we’re going to hold proper discussions at the end of the season. I spoke to Rafa on Friday but I won’t divulge what was said. I don’t want anything cranked up.”
Barry is still expected to join Liverpool this summer, but O’Neill insists there is plenty to talk about.
“We’ll do our very best to keep him,” he said. “He still has two years left on his contract. And while you wouldn’t want to be keeping unhappy players that (length on his contract) is a given. There really is a lot to discuss so it’s best to leave it.
“He’s well aware of how he is considered.”
One Comment
If Gareth has made his mind up to go then we should let him, he has served Villa well in his time here and will never be the same player again if we force him to stay. However, we should not let him go too cheaply as we have done with others in the past and no way do we want Pools cast offs as part payment. If Carson is worth 10 Mil then Barry has to be twice that, realisticly though, a straight cash deal of around 15 mil with no player exchanges is about right, then if Liverpool really do want him they will pay it but I tend to think they are looking for basement bargain.