And the saga continues, bid met by rejection, met by counter-bid! Where will it end? I guess it’s all down to the bearded Spaniard and the bespectacled Aston Villa manager.
Aston Villa confirmed this morning that they have rejected an improved bid from Liverpool for the midfielder Gareth Barry. The latest offer from the Reds, their third, was reportedly worth close to £15m, but still fell some way short of the £20m valuation the Villa manager Martin O’Neill has put on his captain.
“The offer was a slight improvement on a previous bid but our position on the issue remains unchanged,” said a Villa spokesman. “Liverpool have been informed.”
O’Neill was incensed at the way in which Liverpool’s initial interest in Barry was leaked to the press and though he is resigned to losing the player, he will do so only on his own terms. Whether those terms will eventually involve one or two Liverpool players moving to Villa in part-exchange remains to be seen, but O’Neill is believed to be interested in both Peter Crouch and Yossi Benayoun. (The Guardian)
£20m does seem about right, we could discuss all day whether that is too much in this inflated transfer market, but at the present time this figure seems fair. Will Rafa up his bid? Probably, realising Gareth Barry is at his peak right now and he could do a great job in the Liverpool midfield. Of course, there will be a period of time where O’Neill will have to consider taking less as he is unlikely to want to keep a player who wants to leave. Do Liverpool and Villa fans think the valuation is a fair one?