O'Neill opens Barry talks

Villa bid to convince Liverpool target to stay

Last updated: 14th May 2008

Gareth Barry Aston Villa

Barry: In demand

Things are very much up in the air and the main aim is to try and keep Gareth Barry at the football club.

Martin O'Neill
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Aston Villa have opened talks with Gareth Barry in a bid to convince the midfielder to stay at the club.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is keen to sign £10million-rated Barry as he bids to bolster his midfield for a shot at the Premier League title next season.

Barry, 27, is also understood to be eager to play UEFA Champions League football and is thought to be considering a move away from Villa Park.

But Villa manager Martin O'Neill, who has been angered by Benitez's 'debatable' offer for the England international, has now confirmed that he and chairman Randy Lerner have held talks with their club captain.

"We've spoken to Gareth and our situation remains the same - that everyone at Aston Villa wishes very strongly that Gareth will stay," O'Neill told Villa's official website.

Contract

"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."

And O'Neill believes that England international Barry does not need to leave Villa Park in order to continue to impress national manager Fabio Capello.

"I understand a career only spans a certain amount of time and you want to get as much as you can out of that," O'Neill added.

Jeopardy

"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.

"Of course anything can change at the drop of a hat and I'm never overly confident but what I would say to the fans is that we're doing our utmost and we'll continue to do so. We want to show Gareth that we mean business.

"The promise here is very, very obvious. We've gone from 16th to 11th to sixth. We've got the smallest squad in the business and that's something we're desperately trying to improve.

"We don't really want to be starting off by losing our best players. The only way for us to make progress is by doing our utmost to keep him."