Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry is being urged to quit the club and make the move to Liverpool - by the man who first discovered him.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez remains hot on the heels of the England international, despite having an initial £10million bid flatly rejected by Villa boss Martin O’Neill.
Les Rogers first came cross the Hastings-born 27-year-old at Brighton’s Centre of Excellence more than 15 years ago and does want to see his former protege have any regrets as he enters his peak years.
He said: “The opportunity to move to a top four club is too great to miss. I think that Gareth should go. How often will this opportunity come around?
“If Gareth did not go, it could end up being a ‘what if’ scenario. He might end up having a dip in form and regret his decision to stay.
“He wants to hold on to his England place, which I know he values a lot, and now that he is back in the international team it is the right time for him to move.
“Martin O’Neill has been a brilliant manager for Gareth and Villa have really looked after him. He has had previous opportunities to leave but now he will be torn.”
9 Comments
go son
as a villa fan i dont want barry to go but if he does want to go then let him theres no need keeping a player who doesnt want to stay at the club but if he does decide to go then he can expect a lot of games sitting on the bench tey dont call benitez the tinkleman for nothing he swaps his team every week atleast if he stays at the villa he will play every week and keep his captaincy and he should remember he got into the england because of that
and villa are going in the right direction i know we finished 16 points behind liverpool but its always going to be manchester united,chelsea and arsenal in the top 3 and will be between the likes of liverpool,everton and villa for that final 4th champions league place
Villa got him into England? His talent got him into England mate..not Villa..if he was playing for any big four in the country he would have been wearing the england jersey four years ago. villa is even lower than newcastle and totenham IMHO
2. & 3. Phew! That’s one hell of a mouthful. No punctuation and as for the spelling, well the system has clearly failed you. At least that qualifies you as a Villa fan though.
I don’t remember too much moaning when the Seals stole Barry from Brighton, so what comes round goes round. Fact is you are a bigger club than Brighton, so he left to join you. Also fact is that Liverpool are a much bigger club than Villa, so he will leave for a step up in class.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side- And bigger isn’t always better.
Why is it that Villa fans think the Villa are the best team ever to grace a football pitch???
Another comment that keeps cropping up is.. Liverpool always finish 4th. Well, this year yes.. but 3rd for the previous 2!! Arsenal have also gone longer without winning anything and were knocked out of champ league by Liverpool.
So stop!!
Another comment is.. Villa are closing in whilst Liverpool are losing ground on the top 3. Wrong again.. gone from 20 something point off the top, to 11.
Liverpool also kept the most clean sheets for the 3rd year running and were the countries top scorers. Why would you ever want to join such a rubbish team.. especially considering that Villa .. erm… are.. erm… no.. its gone!
Oh..1 more whilst I am ranting! Benitez this, Benitez that… Have any of you seen Benitez say owt about transfers?? no!! I have, however seen O`Neil on sky, weekly!! moaning. So its his own fault if the pressure is on and Barry is unsettled.
daz m - you are clearly missing the point mate. Liverpool are looking to change their team dynamic with Gareth, so they don’t remain 4th material only. The vision is that Gareth can step up a level and allow Liverpool to do the same, otherwise Liverpool shouldn’t be interested in him. It’s up to Gareth and Villa to decide what will happen next season, but remember that playing regular first team football and being captain at Villa, is unlikely to enhance his professional or champions league reputation or credentials, and there is no point in him or any other player having ambition if they are not prepared to move on as they progress as players. To this day I respect Martin O’Neill, the Premier League would benefit if there were more managers with his knowledge,abilty and integrity, but I do think that albeit uncarachteristic of his intellectual mind, he has been wrong in his conduct of this matter (IMHO)and I still think he is one of the most admirable managers in the footballing world, never mind the premiership; he played for Brian Clough and that alone is good enough for me. Aston Villa, (presumably?) have benefitted from the willingness of Liverpool to transfer players to them in the past (Baros, Berger … CARSON !). C’mon Villa you decide what to do, but remember that players will be unlikey to move to you as they develop, if you don’t allow them to move on later… at the moment it’s about Gareth Barry, next time the controversy might be about players who play for someone else because your reputation ensured they weren’t Villa players as they peaked.
All parties are merely dancing with each other, looking to get the best deal for themselves.
Apart from the formalities, he is already a Liverpool player.