Villa manager Martin O’Neill has warned Liverpool that time is running out for them to land Gareth Barry - while opening the door for a shock return to action on Saturday.
He hinted Barry could still have a future at Villa Park – starting with the Intertoto Cup tie against Odense at Villa Park on Saturday.
The Villa boss revealed Liverpool have gone quiet on a deal for his £18m-rated England international star. He casts doubt on whether Reds counterpart Rafa Benitez actually has the funds to prise him away.
Either way, O’Neill is desperate for Barry’s future to be resolved as quickly as possible.
He said: “Liverpool have not officially come back to us in any form of writing. We have got our plans to make and we shouldn’t be at the behest of Liverpool Football Club.
“We’re not sure where they stand now. It was never mentioned before about them needing to sell some players before they bought.
“We don’t know whether to move forward or not with it. It’s a long running saga and I wouldn’t mind it ending one way or another.
“We haven’t heard back from Liverpool for some time and we’re not exactly sure where we all stand.”
O’Neill even indicated that Barry could stay at the club next season and fight his way back into the hearts of the fans.
He said: “My preference – and hopefully I’m speaking for a lot of Villa fans, if not all of them – is that we would like Gareth to stay at the club.
“That would be great because it will be hard to replace him.”
Barry was booed in Tuesday’s friendly with Walsall but O’Neill confirmed he is in contention for Saturday’s Intertoto Cup clash with Odense BK.
Significantly, his involvement would not jeopardise any future chances of Champions League football with the Reds.
O’Neill added: “I think in terms of fitness the game on Tuesday will have brought him on. So if he’s mentally tuned in and he wants to go and play, why not?
“Why shouldn’t he be in contention for the game?”
23 Comments
MON has lost a lot of respect from a lot of people over the way he has treated GB on his move.
we can bide are time barry can buy himself out of his conract at the end of the forth coming season for 2 million so we only have to wait one season and he can sign for nothing.
You kidding?
MON has handled himself entirely properly throughout this affair. Most other managers would have rolled over by now and would have ended up losing their star player for less than they were worth. I think there is actually a good chance that he might stay and we have MON to thank for that. If you want to look for a villain in this whole saga, look no further than Alex Black!
1. lost respect??? are you crazy? MON hasn’t put a foot wrong in this whole sorry saga. do you expect the club to bow down to Liverpool and sell on the cheap? ALL true villa fans are behing O’neil on this one.
‘what a hit son’ - I think you will find it is the OTHER way around. GB was worshipped at Villa Park, and the fans understood his desite to leave for CL football. The thing that has turned them against him was his public outburst, and NOT him wanting to move!!!!
@what a hit son - no he hasn’t, just the respect of Liverpool fans.
Lost respect from who exactly? You’re talking like the true bluenose you are. Villa have stood up to Liverpool. Barry has lied, he has criticised his Mnager in public. If we do that, we get sacked. MON is doing a superb job, bit slow to bring players in but has handled this Barry thing brilliantly.
Either way, stay or leave, it will be good for Villa, £18m or keep a player who at his best can compete with anyone. If we can get two good seasons and a couple of good runs in Europe, the financial rewards will be far greater than anything Liverpool can afford.
“MON has lost a lot of respect from a lot of people over the way he has treated GB on his move.
”
Far from it I think… Barry is under contract at Villa and MON wants his captain and best player to stay. I think MON has shown the way for a lot of clubs, in his attitude by not allowing his employers to be bullied by a bigger club that clearly hasn’t got the financial muscle to match their desires.
If Rafa was such a ‘great’ manager, he’d list the fringe players to rasie funds he so desperately needs and get the best out of what talent he has at the club. Most Villa fans would give their right arm for a squad like Liverpool’s.
Well maybe Liverpool fans but most Villa fans are 100% behind O’Neil.
Also Barry won’t buy himself out next year. He could hand in a transfer request NOW and give up the £3m Villa will have to pay him if we sell him without handing one in. (And that would then make up the difference in what we want and Liverpool have bid.)
If he won’t give up £3m NOW what makes you think he will do it in a years time??
Also in a years time Liverpool won’t have Rafa or Gerrard - he won’t want to go!
the little leprechaun o’neill has a cheek to say that barry is worth 18 million. and that crouch wasn’t worth 15 mill. ok we let crouch go for 11 mill but thats because he wanted to leave for first team football. we wanted to keep him. you won’t see liverpool fans booing crouch. barry has given you a good part of his life and he wants something for himself is that wrong?
‘Gary’- Wait one season to buy himself out, and then another so you can have him on a free!? ha ha ha - He will be 30 then! Do you think Fat Rafa will want him then? And in 2 years Gerrard will be playing elsewhere!! Joker!!!
what a hit!… that should be what a knob
“What a hit son” - Sorry, couldn’t disagree more…Barry went running to the Sunday redtops…if he was that keen to move, he should have put in a transfer request. Also what’s different in this situation, as opposed to years gone by, is that the club don’t *have* to sell, in the way they did with Yorke, etc. - the attitude has changed. MON has handled this well…incoming transfers is another matter!!
I have to disagree “what a hit son”. I think Martin O’Neill has gained immeasurable respect from Villa fans in the handling of this transfer saga. He refused to be bullied into selling his captain and the fine and exclusion from training was entirely Gareth’s fault for breaking club rules in talking to the press without permission. Life would have been a lot simpler had he kept his mouth shut and allowed the club to conduct it’s business in a professional manner - something Liverpool have found difficult to manage as well.
Bottom line here is that Liverpool have arrogantly snapped their fingers as one of the “Big Four”, and expected that Villa should have sold Gareth to them for what they offered!
Martin O’Neill spoke to Gareth to find out what he wanted to do and once it became clear that he wanted to join Liverpool, Villa told them that they could have him for £18 million. Our stance hasn’t changed since then and why should it?
Well done Martin!
What a hit son
who are these people that have ‘lost a lot of respect’ for O’Neill?
You imply there’s lots of them, but I have yet to hear that from anyone other than the odd deluded cleptomaniac from scouseland!
MON has handled the situation perfectly, it’s Barry that turned this into an issue when he went gobbing off in the tabloids.
It’s been said many a time, but if he’d kept his head down and his gob shut we would have all wished him well when he left.
I still maintain that Alex Black is mostly to blame for all of this. Let’s face it, this would have all been handled perfectly amicably had it not been for that interview in the NOTW. Who’s idea was it for GB to give that interview? You think he went to the papers himself or that his agent put him up to it because he thought it might speed up the process of getting the move.
Let’s face it, Rafa hasn’t got the cash and even if he did, at this point he wouldn’t pay it simply because he wouldn’t want to be the one to blink in the war staring match-up between himself and O’Neil.
Gareth, take some good advice. Make a grovelling apology to the fans, sack Alex Black and score a couple against Odense on Saturday and all will be forgotten.
villa mids kings, villa fans have every right to back their manager, but that should not stop them examining his behaviour and the likely consequence of it on both the short term (re Barry) and long term (re how he is viewed by other players that he may wish to recruit.
Its understandable that MON was upset when he realised his captain wanted to leave, but to make such a public issue of it resulting in GB slinging some mud back at his manager has made them both look a little sad. His attacks on LFC and Rafa in particular have provided him with some sense of revenge until you examine the facts and realise he has constructed this situation by himself.
He came public stating that Rafa had leaked the news and then we find out it was the Birmingham press that broke the story, he shouts out that LFC need not get public when Rafa says nothing and then he comes on TV again and again making his allegations.
He could have been silent about the whole thing and treated GB with some sensitivity, especially after nearly 11 years of loyal and faithful service. Alas Villa has never been a place where loyalty is rewarded.
MON has gone down considerably in my estimation. He has shown that his is no big club manager, a bit of a hypocrite (if anyone wants to examine his Celtic recruitment policy) and a sour puss.
he can buy himself in a season “andy brookes” and get himself a nice big fat signing on fee gerrard isn’t going anywhere lol
If I am not mistaken, when Gerrard was thinking of joining Chelski, weren’t the ’shell suit brigade’ burning their Liverscouse tops with Gerrards name on the back!?!? Hmh?! Double standards me thinks!
“what a hit son” - isn’t your local paper The Liverpool Echo mate? Surely not the Express & Star, that’s a midland paper. Oh, and I suppose it’s all Spurs fault that Robbie keaane now wants to leave and nowt to do with fat Max! It’s not MON or Barry’s fault your skint cos you sold out to JR & Bobby Ewing!
What a Dat sun…. Who are all these people that have lost respect for MON I dont think so some how, Personally thinks he done everything correctly so far.
Gary - MON says Barry is worth £18 mil because he’s our best player, captain and penalty taker. At 27, he’s in the prime of his career and he’s an England regular having srated every game for a year after displacing lampard, Carrick and Hargreaves. He won’t improve his England chances at Liverpool because he won’t play as much (even £26.5m Torres doesn’t play every game!)
After Rafa tried to charge us £10m for Carson and refused to lower the price, he eventually siold him to WBA for less than a third that price (£3.25m) because he was desperate for funds. If we’re gonna sell Barry, we should sell him to Arsenal for £5m, that’ll teach the cheeky fat guy about not over-valueing players!
MON has handled this brilliantly!