Villa: Give us £18m for Barry or you can forget him

omgukilledkenny SG

Gareth Barry remains desperate to join Liverpool and has blasted Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill for making no effort to persuade him to stay.

The England midfielder has made no secret of his desire for the regular Champions League football on offer at Anfield.

But despite his pleas to the Villa hierarchy to allow him to leave, the Midlanders have remained entrenched and rejected a reported £15million bid from the Reds earlier this month.

Barry told the News of the World: "My mind's made up, I want to join Liverpool.

"There's no going back, it's time for me to move on. I'm desperate to play Champions League football and that's why I have to leave Villa."

O'Neill has been openly critical of Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez over his pursuit of the Villa skipper.

But despite O'Neill's public posturing, a scornful Barry insists nothing has been done to get him to remain at Villa Park.

"Villa kept saying they wanted me to stay but I have not heard from the manager for weeks," he claimed.

"It's seven weeks now since the season finished but while the gaffer's found time to be a pundit for the BBC at Euro 2008, he hasn't found the time to speak to me.

"Have Villa offered me anything to try to persuade me my future is at Villa Park, not Anfield? Not a thing."

reyes SG

simple. o neil dont want u to stay that why he dont want to meet u.

villa dont want to sell you!!

it the same situation at arsenal between ade and AW.

cantdecide SG

pls pls pls dun come to anfield.

i feel barry is overrated and too expensive. We shld be using the cash to buy silva.

silva can link well with torres somemore as they are international teammates

zocoss SG

Liverpool have been told to find an extra £5million or else forget about signing Aston Villa's England midfielder Gareth Barry. Martin O'Neill has finally put a valuation on his skipper after the midfielder launched a sustained personal attack on his manager.

O'Neill valued the player at £18m after speaking to Villa owner Randy Lerner at length yesterday following Barry stepping up his bid to leave Villa Park. Barry hit out at the lack of urgency at his club, demanding a move to Anfield as he laid into O'Neill for taking on a role as a BBC pundit at the European Championship.

Last night O'Neill said he would not stand in Barry's way as long as Liverpool upped the £13m offer received three weeks ago. O'Neill said: 'The chairman and myself are surprised at what Gareth has said. Contrary to what he alleges, we desperately want to keep him at Villa Park - and he knows that.

Whether Benitez has the cash at his disposal to push the deal through is questionable. The trail regarding Xabi Alonso's £16m move to Juventus appears to have gone cold for the time being and, with time running out before players return to their clubs, it may be that Barry has to face the music and return to Villa Park before his deal is concluded.