Water carrier has been a revelation since moving to Merseyside last summer.
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High-flying Premier League outfit Everton have no plans whatsoever on offering on-loan midfield player Gareth Barry a permanent contract at Goodison Park when the January transfer window opens again next week, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
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The veteran England international agreed to move to the Merseyside giants from mega-rich Premier League rivals Manchester City on a season-long loan deal on transfer deadline day in September.
However, when Barry’s loan period with the Toffees comes to an end at the climax to this current campaign, so too does his contract at Eastlands, meaning that the 32-year-old will be available on a free transfer next summer.
And that also therefore means that the holding midfield player can start talking to interested parties about his next move as soon as the winter window reopens in January.
But despite the player’s brilliant form in the centre of the park for Everton since he left the Blues, new head coach Roberto Martinez says that he has no plans to try and sign Barry up next month, with the Spaniard simply wanting his new charge to concentrate on propelling the club to a surprise top-four finish in the Premier League come next May.
“With Gareth the situation was always that he would be a big part of the dressing room straight away and enjoy his football – then we will see how he feels at the end of the season,” said Martinez.
“We are in the same place now. Gareth has been terrific from the start, exactly what we expected, and the relationship hasn’t changed.
“We haven’t changed our thoughts on the situation just because he has started really well. Gareth has been vitally important in what we have achieved so far this season and I would like that to be the case for many, many years to come.
“But that is a conversation we are going to have in the summer.”
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