Liverpool FC won't give up on Gareth Barry deal
LIVERPOOL are refusing to give up on signing Gareth Barry despite Aston Villa's insistence that the deal is now off.
A day of complex talks was brought to a halt by Villa at 5pm yesterday, according to the terms of a deadline imposed by the Midlands club.
That was despite the fact Liverpool had met Villa's financial demands for Barry, as laid out in written correspondence between the two clubs.
A cash plus player deal was agreed and those closest to the transfer expected the 27-year-old to finally get his move to Anfield.
But on Tuesday afternoon - as Liverpool arrived in Valencia for last night's friendly against Villarreal - Reds officials learned that Villa had decided to change the payment schedule.
With Villa's arbitrary 5pm deadline fast approaching, Liverpool asked for a further 48 hours to be able to put the necessary finance structure in place with their banks to meet the new demands but this request was refused.
Villa, whose manager Martin O'Neill criticised Liverpool for doing business in public at the start of this long running saga, then put a statement out on their official club website stating the deal was off.
It read: "'This evening, Aston Villa can announce that Gareth Barry will be staying with the club following the interest from Liverpool over recent months.
"During discussions 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."
Despite this, Liverpool and Barry remain keen to tie up a deal and Villa's determination to play hard ball is unlikely to scupper the England midfielder's move to Anfield.
Liverpool are working hard behind the scenes to put the cash in place needed to finance the transfer, just days after they agreed to pay Tottenham £20m for Robbie Keane.
Speculation had suggested the signing of Keane would signal the end of Rafa Benitez's pursuit of Barry, but the Reds boss is adamant he wants the Villa man in his squad and even this latest setback is unlikely to make him change his mind.
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I would like to see Barry now request a transfer and then Liverpool say they will only pay 12 million for him. Let Baby MON stew on that one for a month!B
if barry puts in a transfer request, will that have an impact on the transfer fee? and if so, why is this?
MON has made this as difficult as possible for LFC, Barry should ask for a transfer,LFC pay 12m and give Barry 3m to compensate him, see how vindictive MON likes that!
O'Neill has embarrassed himself and his club, and served only to reinforce the belief that he is a small man hopelessly out of his depth in the Premier League.
How this bloke ever got to the position he's in after spells at Wycombe, Leicester and Celtic is anybody's guess, but to finish sixth, behind Everton, with all the resources of an American billionaire who's happy to hand over the cash behind him, and then to bleat when a player expresses a desire to better himself, just proves what an Emperor's New Clothes manager he is.
I personally think we could do better than Barry, but just to pee O'Neill off we should tell Gareth to slap in a transfer request, give him his £3m and offer no more than £10m to Villa just for their cheek.
I don't see how Villa can even contemplate keeping a player who clearly doesn't want to pull on their shirt anymore. They are just hurting their own chances of success by forcing him to stay. They should let him join a big club now so he can fulfil his Champs League ambitions.
villa are a little club ?if you mean were are not followed by southern gloryhunters youre right unlike liverpool we fill our ground with local loyal fans and are not millions in debt tapping up players we cant afford imagine man utd having to stoop so low
And the tapping-up happened when, exactly?
Haven't heard of any complaints from Villa winging their way to the Premier League on the subject.
In fact, the only party you ever hear or read about on the subject is your rattish manager, especially when he's moonlighting on the BBC, filling his pockets when he should have been doing all he could to keep his captain and best player at the club.
Still, why let small details such as The Facts get in the way of a good old whinge, eh?
barry villas best player ? news to us but youre probably a typical southern armchair gloryhunter your knowledge is very small if you think barry is our best player why did you pay spurs 1 million because of the cheap shabby actions of the rotating waiter i bet man utd and chelsea are worried youve paid 20 mill for a 15 goal striker o neil got one of those for free voronin looks a good buy though hahahaha
gareth barry facts played well in 2 years from 10 both under oneill .slagged oneil of in the news of the world sister paper of the sun which i believe is not popular withREAL liverpool fans.could have moved any time by requesting a transfer but refused you can have him but you WILL pay villas price no bartering just show us the money or do one ps he is rubbish at diving and will need coaching [no problem there]
Make your minds up, you hypocrites.
The world is laughing at you.