Rumour Mill NEWS

Villa to offer Barry a new deal

Published by Zac Lee Rigg on July 28, 2008

Liverpool target Gareth Barry looks set to receive a new deal from Aston Villa in the wake of Liverpool’s cooled interest. According to the Guardian, the bulk of Liverpool’s transfer budget will be spent on Robbie Keane instead.

“The clear message regarding Gareth is that everyone at Villa Park wants him to stay,” Villa manager Martin O’Neill said.

“I will talk to Gareth first of all. Our position has not changed - like I’ve said before, we will do everything we can [to keep him]. The player belongs to us. Liverpool know the situation. It’s not my job to pick up the phone to them.

“It’s very obvious we value him more than Liverpool do. He’s a top European player. The price we are asking is true and realistic. I think it’s really, really cheap actually but that doesn’t mean I want him to go. But if he felt he wanted to leave he saw the reaction on Saturday - it was incredibly positive.

“It’s obvious that we have some serious work to do with regards to getting players in. But I’m still confident that we will make progress with it in the next few weeks.” he added.

Liverpool were set to finance the Barry deal with the sale of Xabi Alonso to Juventus. Once that move broke down, the club have found gathering the appropriate funds difficult.

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