Villa have no intention of selling Gareth Barry to Liverpool as they today denied a late bid for the midfielder was received yesterday.

The summer-long transfer saga took its latest twist when Villa announced the midfielder will be staying, after Liverpool failed to meet the 5pm transfer deadline agreed between boss Martin O’Neill, chairman Randy Lerner, Barry and his agent, Alex Black.

Morning reports claim the Merseyside club came armed with Villa’s £18m asking price just 15 minutes after the cut-off. The last bid Villa received was for £15m on July 1.

A club spokesman told the ExpressandStar.com: “We did not receive a bid of any kind from Liverpool yesterday.”

American owner Lerner did receive a call from Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry to confirm the cut-off earlier in the day, but never heard back. Once the deadline passed, Villa announced the news in a statement.

The statement read: “During talks in the past few days, a final deadline to conclude this episode was set that all parties were aware of and agreed to.

“This deadline has now passed and so Gareth will remain with Villa.”

Villa are now adamant Barry will now kick off the season their player.

O’Neill said: “Naturally, we’re all absolutely delighted that Gareth will be staying and are relieved to find a resolution to the saga.

“We had a very positive meeting on Monday between Gareth, his agent, Mr Lerner and myself. We agreed that a deadline should be communicated to Liverpool to finally resolve the situation.

“Liverpool were informed and that deadline came and passed.”

A new £70,000-a-week four-year contract will be put before Barry, which includes a testimonial and get-out clause should Villa fail to match his ambitions.

The olive branch is likely to be extended to the 27-year-old being reinstated as skipper. Nonetheless, some reports continue to suggest he remains unhappy and will consider handing in a transfer request.