Water carrier will be out of contract at the end of June.
Everton will have to pay Premier League champions Manchester City £2.5m if they wish to sign on-loan midfielder Gareth Barry on a permanent contract for next season, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
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The England international moved to Goodison Park from Eastlands on a season-long loan deal at the beginning of this campaign after having been made surplus to requirements by new City head coach Manuel Pellegrini.
And after a fine season at the heart of the Merseyside giants’ midfield, while also protecting the Toffees back four, it had been expected that Everton boss Roberto Martinez would make Barry’s loan arrangement a permanent switch to Merseyside.
However, it is now understood that for the Spaniard to bring Barry on board full time, Everton must fork out a pre-arranged fee of £2.5m, which places the club at a huge disadvantage compared to rival teams such as Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham United who are all also said to be interested in signing the 33-year-old for next season too.
And that is because those clubs can simply purchase Barry on a Bosman free this summer when his contract expires at Eastlands, unlike Everton, meaning they can all offer the player far larger signing-on fees to entice the holding midfielder away from a move to Goodison.
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