Villa want £20m for Barry

The Gareth Barry transfer saga looks set to drag on with Martin O’Neill now demanding £20 million for the England international.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is ready to play a waiting game over the move and, with reports today in Italy suggesting that a £14.2m deal has been struck to take Xabi Alonso to Juventus, he will have financial backing in which to play out what is now becoming the most public of transfer wars.

O’Neill is well aware that Benitez will not pay £20m for the Villa skipper and with Barry intent on a move to Merseyside, the transfer battle looks likely to get nasty in the next few weeks.

The Villa boss is already furious with Liverpool’s conduct in the Barry battle and he now looks to be digging his heels in even further.

Now, Benitez is weighing up a fourth offer for the 27-year-old after being rebuffed three times already.

A third bid of £13m from Liverpool for the England international was received on Thursday but the offer was described as “just not acceptable” by O’Neill and was rejected immediately.

The asking price demonstrates O’Neill’s determination to get every penny possible for a player he wants to keep hold of.

However, Barry’s admission that he wants to play Champions League football has left the Villa manager resigned to him leaving.

“If Manchester United are having a struggle keeping hold of (Cristiano) Ronaldo, I guess the rest of us have a bit of trouble,” he said.

The Liverpool boss is keen to use a number of squad players as makeweights in the deal, with Peter Crouch, Steve Finnan, Scott Carson, Jermaine Pennant and John Arne-Riise all linked.

But the two managers’ valuations of are thought to be some way apart and O’Neill would prefer straight cash to pursue his own targets such as keeper Paul Robinson.

Sporting Braga full-back Joao Pereira, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Polish midfielder Mariusz Lewandowski and Porto contract rebel Paolo Assuncao are the latest names to also be linked.