Villa manager Martin O’Neill has dismissed reports that Liverpool have made a ‘take it or leave it’ £15m bid for Gareth Barry.
O’Neill has fined Barry after criticising O’Neill in a national newspaper on Sunday. The captain will not be returning for pre-season training tomorrow.
He said: “There’s no truth in this morning’s reports and the situation remains the same.
“Gareth will not be returning to training tomorrow. He has been disciplined after giving an unauthorised interview to the News of the World.”
A report had suggested Liverpool had made a fourth bid, which amounted to £15m rising to £17m.
O’Neill wants a minimum of £18m for his skipper and with the situation the same, the saga shows every sign of dragging on into pre-season.
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8 Comments
it makes you wonder how much of this saga is down to gareth barry’s agent?
i find it difficult to believe that a player who has never so much as said boo to a goose should suddenly act like a spoilt brat, if barry wants to go then so be it but he must understand that villa deserve to get the price that has been announced, the rest is up to liverpool.
personally if this is down to barry i think he should have kept his mouth shut and waited for liverpool to get serious and make a proper offer, barry has now joined a long list of players who will no longer be welcome back at villa park and it looks like he only has himself to blame.
on the plus side the ‘10 years of gareth barry’ dvd should be a couple of quid in the club shop by august, guess what everyone is getting for xmas?
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Well done Martin O’Neil - a Villa manager with backbone. If we can fine Barry enough times we could make up the shortfall in the transfer fee!
If Liverpool want to pay by installments he should therefore only be able to play by installments.
If Liverpool wanted him so badly they would come up with the funds - time to think Barry.
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Don’t mess with the MON!
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I read barry’s comments in the NOTW, i was shocked, oniel is a class manager and barry seems a really good honest english player, so why has this crumbled into public kaos, PR disaster IMO
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good on mon. he knows that barry will be leaving to another club, at a price that is suitable to us not the buying club. by doing this he is also letting the other players at our club know that if you step out of line then be prepared fot the punishment
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Well done martin,barry signed a new contract last year and if he goes its on villas terms,not liverpools barry is a disgrace and lets hope all villa fans let him know it when he comes back in that liverpool shirt in aug.
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The amount of money earned….No scrub that.
The amount of money players demand these days, only serves to make a mockery out of fines that clubs endorse on them and it is about time that these prima donnas were bought to heel. Contracts have to be made water tight so that players cannot just decide at the drop of a hat that they want to go elswhere, the highly inflated wages these players get is paid by us the supporters, not the club. Aston Villa have said they are not counting on player sales to finance player purchases, therefore Gareth Barry should be made to wait until his price is met. If the shoe were on the other foot, I have no doubt that it would be on Barry’s terms, if Pool want badly enough they will pay, otherwise let Barry rot in the reserves.
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John Aston
Whilst i agree wholeheartedly will your sentiments,
in today’s climate of ludicrously high transfer fees, it is not feasible to let a player “rot in the reserves”
club chairmen who run the “business” simply will not allow £10-£15 million talent not earn their corn.
Also, no club wants an unhappy player that could be a disruptive influence.
The very same thing happened to us last term with Curtis Davies, he signed a four year contract months earlier, when it suited his agenda.
Although it is far more prevalent nowadays,
petulant players who want it all their own way is not a new phenomenon,
i well remember a certain Bryan Robson effectively going on strike whilst on the pitch during a game, so he could secure his move to Man Utd, after our chairman of the time, Bert Millichip, told him he was not for sale.
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