Aston Villa in talks to keep Gareth Barry away from Liverpool

May 15 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

ASTON VILLA have opened talks with Gareth Barry in an attempt to stave off interest from Liverpool.

But the Anfield outfit remain confident of capturing the 27-year-old within the next fortnight.

Liverpool have made a player-plus-cash offer worth £10million for Barry, who has been earmarked by Rafael Benitez as the manager begins his summer squad rebuilding in earnest.

Villa manager Martin O’Neill became embroiled in a war of words with his Anfield counterpart after expressing his displeasure at the manner in which news of the official bid emerged.

O’Neill and Villa chairman Randy Lerner have this week met with skipper Barry to try and persuade him to stay at Villa Park.

But O’Neill has admitted for the first time Villa are contemplating the player leaving.

“We’ve spoken to Gareth and our situation remains the same – that everyone at Aston Villa wishes very strongly that Gareth will stay,” said O’Neill.

“He still has two years of his contract to run and Liverpool have put in an offer that, well, it’s almost debatable whether it is an offer.

“Things are very much up in the air and the main aim for the chairman and myself is to try and keep him at the football club. That’s what we’re trying to do.

“You can make people see out their contracts but in essence we would want a pretty amicable solution to all of this and we’re still hopeful that things can be resolved in favour of Aston Villa.”

Barry is thought to be keen on a move to Liverpool given the lure of Champions League football and playing alongside Steven Gerrard.

But O’Neill believes the midfielders’ international ambitions can still be realised at Villa.

“I understand a career only spans a certain amount of time and you want to get as much as you can out of that,” said O’Neill.

“But Gareth has played for England because he plays regularly for Aston Villa and his England place is not in jeopardy because he’s playing for Aston Villa at the moment – frankly Capello does not

need to see him playing in a Champions League game to be convinced.”

Plenty of movement is expected in and out of Anfield this summer, with reports in Germany have stated Stuttgart could be about to launch a bid for Andriy Voronin.

The Bundesliga side are poised to lose top goalscorer Mario Gomez in the season, with Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Chelsea among potential suitors.

Voronin, a free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, has struggled to win over the Anfield faithful after scoring six goals in 28 appearances on his debut season.

Liverpool, meanwhile, are in talks with Sammy Lee with a view to him becoming Rafael Benitez’s assistant manager.

Lee, sacked as manager at Bolton last October, has held discussions this week with Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry.

The former Liverpool midfielder had previously been reserve team manager and first team coach at the club under Graeme Souness and Gerard Houllier.

Benitez has moved to bring Lee back after first-team coach Alex Miller left last week to manage Japanese side JEF United Chiba.

Lee’s appointment has been approved by the club’s American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.