Villa manager Martin O’Neill has again insisted Gareth Barry will not be leaving Villa unless Liverpool meet the club’s £18m asking price.
Liverpool have had a £15m offer for Barry rejected in the last two days, the fourth offer to have come from Anfield this summer.
Barry’s move to Anfield is now inevitable, after he was banned from training and fined two weeks wages for his comments criticising boss O’Neill.
O’Neill said: “We’ve put a valuation on him and Liverpool value him differently at the moment. That’s what the stalemate is, it’s nothing else.
“Gareth has pointed out he wants to go and if Liverpool come up and meet our valuation, he will go.
“That has been the case since the beginning of June when Gareth said he definitely wanted to go to Liverpool.
“We had a meeting with him and his agent and myself and Randy Lerner and he said then that Champions League football was what he wanted.
“When a player makes it clear he wants to go, there’s not a lot you can do.”
It could get worse for Villa, with speculation meanwhile continuing to mount regarding Shaun Maloney’s future.
The 25-year-old has been at training for the first two days of pre-season as Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers are linked with a move for the Scottish international.
Sources suggest Maloney would be reluctant to cross the Glasgow divide, having starred for Celtic before his £1m move to Villa in January 2007.
But Villa are still closing in on £5m-rated Tottenham keeper Paul Robinson, who could be O’Neill’s first summer signing.
2 Comments
Like a lot of other Villa fans I have now changed my mind over the Gareth Barry saga. Taking into consideration the price we paid for him, plus 10 years of excellent service to Aston Villa, I think the 10, 12, or 15mil Liverpool are offering would be a good return.
I did hope that he might stay and I must admit the unprofessional way that Liverpool went about it angered me immensely, which by the way I think should be investigated by the FA, either way I have to resign myself to the fact he will eventualy go.
I also think the move would have a positive affect on Villa, we do need freshening up and this I feel would be a great opportunity to do so, if Mr Lerner will let the Barry money be added to MONs already promised war chest, the bargaining power of Aston Villa would increase significantly, who knows!! next year Liverpool might be fighting for a place in the Inter Toto and Villa playing Champions league…well I can dream cant I.
He will go for 16 with possible 2 mil in add ons.