Barry's future on the agenda

O'Neill to meet Lerner to discuss England international

By James Pearson   Last updated: 12th May 2008

Gareth Barry Aston Villa

Barry: Future in doubt

We're going to be sitting down very shortly and discussing Gareth's future.

O'Neill
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Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has confirmed he will meet with chairman Randy Lerner in the coming days to thrash out Gareth Barry's future.

The England international's future is very much up in the air with Liverpool keen on prising his services from the Villa Park outfit this summer.

The Reds have already made an offer for the 27-year-old 18-cap international, which O'Neill swiftly described as 'mish-mash'.

O'Neill is refusing to comment on how confident he is of retaining Barry, who has two years left on his Villa contract, although he believes that combined with Lerner the pair will be able to persuade him to stay.

Different era

"I wouldn't want to be saying how confident we are (of keeping Barry)," said O'Neill. "It's a different era we live in. We will see.

"All I know is he has never expressed one iota of unhappiness in my time at Villa Park. He might not have stayed that long had he been really unhappy before.

"We're going to be sitting down very shortly and discussing Gareth's future. We won't let this lie.

"I'm going to see the chairman in the next couple of days with a bit of luck and the two of us together might be able to persuade him to stay.

"I say persuade him - but he still has two years left on his contract."